


It's Not Worth the Tears

by LotanLotus



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Birthdays pets and loads of problem solving without powers, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, How does one really do tags anyways, I do my best to keep the timeline in order, I just want these kids to be happy k thnx, I promise you'll love it but it'll update pretty slowly, I'll edit tags as i go, Loads of past relationships that get brought up and loads of closure, M/M, The series itself is pretty much in arcs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2019-10-29 21:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 121,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17815457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LotanLotus/pseuds/LotanLotus
Summary: Different households have different problems, but when they all put their heads together, maybe everything is a lot easier to handle?





	1. Maybe it's life

**Author's Note:**

> I've literally been writing this story for years and I've been holding off on it for a while, but now that I got my hands on KH3? I have more of a drive than anything to keep writing. So, I hope you guys love this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Also, each chapter I try to focus mainly on just one person, BUT I know that's not gonna happen so, there's a lot of main characters.

“Noct, I’m not gonna lie... when I first met you, and finally got to know you, I thought you were the snobbiest rich boy I’ve ever met in my life.” A small chuckle was heard as the other shook his head.

“Well you were the one that decided to talk to me in the first place, or did you forget that? You didn’t _have_ to talk to me Prompto.” Noctis stated, lifting a fry to point it at his friend. “Who’s fault is that?”

“Yours.” Prompto scoffed, “if you weren’t so damn snobby, I wouldn’t be bringing this up right now.”

“What- I did _nothing_ to you.” Noctis reached for his small cup, taking a small sip to let Prompto have his time to explain himself.

“You did _everything_ , Noct.” Prompto shook his head, “you went to school all ‘high and mighty’ refusing to talk to anyone, and I figured if I could just-”

“-if you could lose some weight, I would be more than happy to talk to you.”

“-hold a proper conversation with you, maybe you wouldn’t push me away and we could be great friends. Thanks.” Prompto frowned, poking at his burger. “I don’t get this- you’re rich, so why aren’t we dining out at the fanciest restaurants in town?”

Noctis raised his eyebrow curiously, not quite amused to hear the idea of dining expensively with his good friend. “You don’t just want to be my friend because of money, do you?”

“NO!” Prompto sat up from his seat quickly, slamming his hands on the table, alerting some stragglers sitting around the duo. “I care about you because you’re my best friend and-” He slowly sat back down in his seat, leaning closer to Noctis to finish, “-honestly you’re horribly picky... so... would a burger and fries _really_ fill you up?”

“Um...?” Noctis leaned back in his seat, looking down at his food that was hardly touched, albeit he ate most of the fries he picked up. “Doesn’t really matter to me, I’m not too hungry.”

“I can’t believe you.” Prompto shook his head, “when do you say that you’re not _too_ hungry? Are you okay? Are you sick? Are you... happy?”

“Who are you, my cousin?” Noctis mumbled, rolling his eyes as he looked off to the side. “I can’t go eating fancily without him anyways, he likes to fuss about me spending my dad’s money all ‘willy-nilly’.”

“I never thought I would live to see the day that I hear you say ‘willy-nilly’. This- the gods have blessed me with something new today.” Prompto laughed, grabbing a handful of fries.

“Be careful, you don’t want to get fat again.” Noctis teased, pointing at Prompto’s stomach.

Prompto groaned and sighed, putting the fries down as he sunk low in his seat, rather dejectedly. “Don’t be like that man... that’s a really sour topic for me.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Noctis smiled at the blonde’s reaction, “Look, at least- if you ever get fat again, I really wouldn’t care. We’re already friends and I’d probably just work out with you so that you could lose the weight again.”

“Really?!” Prompto’s eyes lit up instantly, he sat up in his seat, leaning closely to Noctis with bright eyes, “Are you serious? Do you mean it? Do you?!”

“Yeah, I guess.” Noctis shrugged, “I don’t see the problem with that.”

“The lazy prince offering to work out with me? Man, I really feel blessed today...”

“Hey, are you going to your cousin’s place today, or are you going home?” Noctis questioned, standing from his seat and gathering his things to throw them away. “Just giving me a sense of how long I’m going to have to walk with you today.”

“I’ll... go by Cloud’s place, he never seems to mind when I stay with him for a night or two.” Prompto shrugged, following Noctis’ movements as they threw their things away and left the fast-food place. “Besides, Cloud likes when I help out around the place.”

“That’s if he’s even there.” Noctis commented, glancing at the blonde who laughed at the comment.

“True, he might just be at your place.” Noctis nodded, choosing to go silent as Prompto took it as the initiative to talk as much as he wanted to. “Isn’t it weird though, like... our cousins are madly in love with each other, they’ve been dating since they were in high school and they still have yet to get married.” Prompto took a deep breath, “like... really... Cloud’s probably only a few years older than the two of us if even that- his _birthday_ is coming up too! I should really buy something for him, but I have to make sure that Zack isn’t going to get him the same thing that I’m going to get him. Personally I find it strange that Zack would even be interested in someone that’s as antisocial as Cloud. But then again, I became friends with you, who’s almost just as antisocial.”

“I’m definitely a lot more social than Cloud is, Prompto.” Noctis scoffed, “besides, Cloud’s birthday isn’t the _only one_ that’s coming up.”

“You want me to buy you something too? I’m going to go broke with all of this birthday jizz, so you better buy me an expensive dinner as repayment.”

“Oh, what? No, I thought you just forgot about my birthday. I’m going to go out with Luna on that day-”

“Right... Luna.” Prompto raised an eyebrow, “I don’t understand how you’re dating her but... neither of you really _show_ it.”

“I’m sorry?” Noctis stopped in his tracks, looking over to the blonde who paused and turned to stare back at him. “When was my dating Luna ever a problem for you?”

“It’s not that it's a problem, but I just...” Prompto paused, thinking of the right words to say in this situation, “-I really just want to spend time with you, y’know? Even now, it feels like I don’t know as much about you as I probably could... like- you never told me how you ended up living with your cousins, you never told me how you met Luna in the first place... you _never_ tell me about your dad... there’s just so many things that you just don’t tell me. I thought that we were supposed to be-”

“You’re literally my best friend, and probably the only friend that I have that’s still _my_ age, Prompto. I’m not treating you any differently than I treat everyone else-”

“That’s the problem, right there! I _want_ to be treated differently from everyone else!”

“Why? Why would you want that?”

Prompto stood for a moment, staring at the ground then at his shoes. He knew his reasons, and he knew why he wanted to fight so much for Noctis to fully appreciate him as much as he does to the prince, but he was honestly hoping that after being so close to him for 5 years and counting, that he would know so much more than what he currently knows. “You don’t have faith in me knowing the important things about your life.”

“That’s not it, Prompto.” Noctis shook his head, “I have a lot of faith in you, that’s _why_ I don’t want to tell you anything.”

“But I _want_ to know, Noct.” Prompto protested. “So why can’t you-”

“He didn’t want me in the kingdom anymore.” Noctis mumbled quickly, it was almost too quiet, and Prompto took a moment to process just what he said. “He sent me out of Lucis to come here and live with Zack. He said it was to protect me, but I don’t think I need protecting.”

“What... are there people that are coming after you?”

“Not that I know of.” Noctis shrugged. “Luna’s a family friend, my dad wants me to get married to her, but...”

“Are you not interested in her?”

“If I wasn’t interested in her, would I be dating her?”

“Well- no...”

“I just don’t want to get married.”

“Are you scared of getting married?”

“No.” Noctis mumbled once more, “I’ve known Luna for a really long time though, and we even picked out the dogs together.”

“Pryna and Umbra?”

“Yeah.”

“Which one is yours?”

“Technically they’re both hers, she brought them both.” Noctis admitted with a small smile, “I told her I would pay for at least one of them, but she told me to just name them and we’d call it even. So... Pryna and Umbra.”

“But _you_ take care of Umbra?” Prompto continued asking as many questions as Noctis would answer, “why didn’t she just take both of them?”

“She gave me Umbra as a birthday present. Trained him and all.”

“So... you two _aren’t_ getting married?”

“What?” Noctis raised an eyebrow, shoving his hands into his pockets a he fiddled with a rock using his foot. “Didn’t I already answer that?”

“How do you feel about Luna?” Prompto asked, completely curious of the answer. He even took a step closer to the raven who was trying his best to avoid answering. “Do you really love her? Are you just with her because you have to be?”

“What are you talking about? Where did you get that from?”

“I want to know how serious you are about Luna, Noct.”

“When was that ever important to you?”

“How do you feel about me?”

Noctis took a moment to look at Prompto’s face, who was completely serious as he asked that question. He knew he had to say something, but the words and the right thoughts weren’t quite adding up, “what’s with you, all of a sudden?”

“I just want to know these things.”

“Can we just... I’ll walk you to Cloud’s place if you want? If not, I’m probably just going to go home.”

Prompto’s eyes continued to stare at Noctis’ own as he gave a subtle nod before turning his attention elsewhere. “I’ll walk to Cloud’s. We can split off when we reach that road.”

 _What the hell_...

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

_What type of feeling is this?_

Noctis kept his hands shoved in his pockets as he watched Prompto make his turn to walk to Cloud’s house not even 10 minutes into their walk of silence. Prompto refused to say anything else to him, which was really stressful for the Noctis who’s used to hearing Prompto talk about random things that interested him during their classes, or anything in general. Noctis figured it would be best to watch and wait until Prompto made a far enough distance from him for Noctis to finally decide to walk his own way home.

_Why is he being like that?_

The rest of Noctis’ walk was quite short and brooding. It was clear that he wasn’t happy, as he opened the door to the relatively big house, he walked in on the usual condition of the home. The main hallway light was usually always off, which connects to a rather large living room on the right. It’s usually only busy if the youngest cousin brings her friends over to play games, other than that, Noctis uses it to sleep if he’s too lazy to walk up three flights of steps. Which is pretty often. On the left is the dining room, which has an archway to the kitchen that you can also see from the living room. The first floor doesn’t have doors, so it’s a rather open space save for the counter that blocks the kitchen from anything but the dining room. Noctis sighed, dropping his bag on the ground as he took off his shoes and threw his jacket by the front door. He walked over to the couch, dropping his face into a fluffy pillow and covering himself with the blanket that decorates the couch.

Hours went by by the time Noctis heard a small, faint voice flowing through his ears. The raven groggily sat up from his spot on the couch, rubbing his eyes as he recognized the small body standing in front of him.

“Oh good- I thought I was going to have to get Zack to pour water on you so that I could get this space for myself.” The girl stood with her hands on her hips, “d’ya mind going to your room? I’m inviting my friends over and, yeah.”

“Xion...” Noctis grumbled, removing the blanket from his body, tossing it onto the couch where it belonged. “You can’t just bring them to your room? You know I sleep here.”

“I know this is your little man cave or whatever, but I want to _play_ here. C’mon, get up. The living room is for _everyone_ after all.”

“... Xion...” Noctis mumbled in protest. “I’m having an emotional crisis and I’d prefer it if you brought your friends to your room for once.”

“I told them we were going to use the big T.V. So... no. Go sleep in your room.”

“Why can’t I just sleep here while you go play or whatever?”

Xion sighed, shaking her head, “teenagers, Noctis. If we see someone like you sleeping on a couch, don’t you think that we’re going to be taking pictures and posting it all over the internet? Saying things like ' _T_ _he prince only knows how to sleep, what a loser, kek._ ’ and some other stupid things. We’re teenage girls, Noct, teenage girls.”

“Where’s Umbra?” Noctis asked, changing the topic.

“Terra and Zack brought him out to go poop.” Xion explained simply, “so... you gonna get up now?”

“Not until I see Umbra.”

“You’re such a child.” Xion stated, hearing the front door click open, and heavy dog huffs echoing through the hallway. “Oh- just in time!”

“Umbra~.” Noctis called, smiling as the happy dog came running up to his feet, happily waiting for love and attention.

“So- what type of mix is Umbra?” Xion asked, watching Terra and Zack walk in, giving their subtle greetings as they made their way into the kitchen to do their own things.

“Shiba Inu.” Noctis mumbled, “He’s mixed, both he and Pryna.”

“So... Shiba Inu and...?” Terra asked as he was looking over the kitchen counter to place a small bag there.

“He looks kinda like a Husky.” Zack chimed in.

“Close.” Noctis replied, “Alaskan Malamute.”

“Oh~.” Zack made a peaceful hum as he went into the fridge to place a variety of different drinks away.

“That’s pretty cute.” Xion smiled, petting the dog who was slowly making his way to sit on the couch with his owner. “Well- oh- hey! Zack, Terra, can you guys tell Noctis to go to his room? My friends are coming over any minute now, and I don’t want him breathing in the same air as my friends.”

“Why not?” Zack questioned, lifting his head above a bag placed on one side of the counter. “I don’t see a problem with Noct being there while your friends are here.”

“Can you tell her to just bring her friends to her room?” Noctis replied, earning an agreeing whine from Umbra.

“Well...” Terra glanced over to Zack, who stared back at him with a similar look. “Honestly, Noct, I’m shocked you still sleep on that couch in the first place.” He looked over to the confused raven who slowly started to stand with Umbra jumping off the couch in worry.

“... what do you mean?” Noctis asked, never letting his eyes leave Terra’s own.

“Zack and Cloud- they get a little freaky on that couch when no one’s here, y’know.” Terra stated with a blank face, earning a groan of disapproval from Noctis, a laugh from Xion, a whine from Umbra, and choking caused by coughing from Zack.

“Who said it was okay to put my bedroom on the third floor?” Noctis asked himself as he led Umbra up the steps quietly complaining about his living arrangements. Xion was completely amused to see Noctis retreat from his spot on the couch as fast as he did.

“Why would you even say that?” Zack questioned, clearing his throat. “Spike and I don’t do that there.”

“Where _haven’t_ you done it, Zack? You two are like rabbits.” Terra sighed, shaking his head. He gathered up all of the stray plastic bags and threw them into an even bigger plastic bag piled with smaller ones. “Besides, it’ll get him to stop sleeping on the couch, and we won’t have to deal with him and Xion having these silly little arguments because she wants to have the living room instead of bringing her friends to her dirty room.”

“My room is _not_ dirty. It’s a lot cleaner than all y’all’s.” Xion grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. She eyed Terra who shrugged in response and slowly made his way up the stairs.

Zack went into the kitchen for a small bottle of soda before wandering into the living room to take a sip from the soda. “So- where did this ‘y’all’ business come from? Was that from Kairi, Namine and Yuffie?”

“It’s mainly Yuffie, I’ve been hanging out with her more during school.” Xion shrugged. “I didn’t even realize I said that, to be honest.”

“It sounds weird, comin’ from you.” Zack chuckled, “but, it’s whatever. As long as you’re having fun, that’s all that really matters to me.”

“You say weird things too, like “comin’” and “doin’” and other things that probably should have the ‘g’ pronounced but you never do.” Xion pointed out tilting her head.

“Gotta say, I have an accent.” Zack shrugged, taking another sip from his soda. “I’m gonna head upstairs. Have fun with your gal-pals.” He waved to the small girl who smiled and waved back, she sat on the couch eying the oldest of the household, watching as he slowly made his way up the stairs.

“I can’t believe he called my friends ‘gal-pals’.”

* * *

Later in the day, Noctis finally left his room due to hunger, with Umbra following closely behind, the duo walked down the flights of steps to get to the first floor, their intention was to get food freshly made. Noctis looked off to the living room, where Xion and her friends were watching him questionably. He took notice of the lack of a very important item that was needed to satisfy his body.

“Where’s Zack?” He asked, not realizing how terrible his voice sounded.

Xion raised an eyebrow, “are you getting sick?” She asked, leaning over the couch to watch him. “Zack never came back downstairs, so there’s no dinner today, from the looks of things. It’s already 8pm, after all. You’ve been sleep for quite a bit.”

“... he... never came down?” Noctis questioned, feeling his throat tense up as he talked. “He can’t do this- I’m hungry.” He looked off into the kitchen, trying to figure out something to cook to satisfy his stomach.

“Do you want me to make you something? You sound really gross.” Xion mumbled, offering her services.

“Xion can make really great soup, she made some for Luna and Stella before when they were both really sick and the next day, they felt so much better!” The blonde, Namine boasted as she talked about her older sisters.

Upon hearing Luna _and_ Stella’s names, Noctis gave a cautious look to Namine, who stared at him with a smile, completely innocent. “I’m just going to go upstairs.” Noctis stated, turning on his heels as he walked around Umbra who gave him a worried look but followed him nonetheless. Once he reached the steps, the duo took note of a rather nicely dressed Zack who was fixing his dress shirt cuff while slowly walking down the stairs. “Zack? Where are you going?”

When Zack reached the last step and was fully in view of the girls, Kairi and Yuffie were heard whistling and clapping excitedly at the nicely cleaned-up Zack.

“Well, I’m going out.” Zack spoke with a goofy smile, “how do I look?” He asked, running his hand through his hair to push it all back, aside from the one disobedient strand that refused to leave his face. He had a simple grey dress shirt and black pants, but he was contemplating leaving the sleeves unrolled or unbuttoning them to roll them up. “I’m not too used to these fancy dinner things.”

“Who are you going out with?” Xion asked, giving a mischievous smile, “is it _Cloud_?”

“It’s a professional dinner, you little troll.” Zack chuckled, “yeah, Spike’s gonna be there, but it’s for Shinra.”

“Professional...” Noctis mumbled quietly. “You’re missing a few things, aren’t you?” He asked, looking up at the raven who suddenly started to pull his hair back into a high ponytail.

“I have the tie and the suit top in the car. I’m all set, basically. And, are you okay? Do you want Xion to cook some soup for you or something? Your voice is kinda-”

“I know, thanks- but I’m good.” Noctis stated dismissively, going back to his room without another word.

Zack watched the other raven with confusion before turning to the youngest of the household who only shrugged in response. “Make that kid some food. I forgot to cook because I was getting ready for this and I feel bad.”

“Sure!” Xion smiled. “Have fun at your _professional_ get together.”

“Thanks.” Zack chuckled out, “have fun here, you all. You’re all welcome to spend the night too, y’know. Just let Terra and your families know before you do that.”

“Thanks _dad_.” Xion teased, rolling her eyes, “you can go and be a grown man! We girls can take control here!”

“Yeah! We’re all good!” Zack heard Yuffie yell, then laugh. The oldest of the household couldn’t help but chuckle at his small family and their strange personalities.

* * *

Yuffie and Namine were both happily stirring a small pot of soup for the sickly prince. Xion was wandering around the kitchen finding all of the different ingredients to put in the pot. Kairi on the other hand was blogging, talking to herself as she walked around the kitchen talking about small objects and making silly jokes.

“Okay, there’s the rest of the veggies.” Xion mumbled to Yuffie and Namine while she threw a few greens in the pot, watching it sink to the bottom as the spoons mixed it together, “make sure to mix that up really well so Noct can’t see it, okay? If he sees it, he’s going to get really nit-picky.”

“Hey guys, isn’t it funny that he just hates veggies? He’s so spoiled.” Kairi chuckled, looking at her phone, “was he always like that? The fans want to know.”

“Yeah, he hates anything that’s healthy for him, basically. But he refuses to eat vegetables and if it has anything to do with veggies, he _won’t_ bother eating it if he sees them. Let alone... he won’t take the bags that has vegetables in them, he’ll leave them in the car to rot if it was up to him.”

“Wow... what a prince.”

Yuffie scoffed, shaking her head as she pulled her spoon out of the pot, placing it in the sink nearby. “That’s no prince.” She stated, placing her hands on her hips, “the real prince is _Zack_ , I mean- did you not see ‘em in that dapper little suit?!”

“Noct can still be a prince too, Yuffie.” Namine stated, “I think he’s perfectly fine as a prince.” She smiled, taking out her spoon to put it in the sink. Xion walked past her so that she could turn up the heat on the pot, letting it sit to thicken up. “Besides, Luna accepts him and even Stella feels-”

“Can we not talk about that trio right now?” The girls turned to hear the male voice suddenly interrupting their space. They all eyed Terra, who was dressed in oversized army green sweatpants and a plain black tank-top, his hair was ruffled into a messy ponytail and he looked like he most likely just woke up. “Honestly, Noct doesn’t want people talking about what _happened_ between them.”

“That’s true...” Namine nodded, moving out of the way to let Terra go inside the fridge. “How many people actually know?”

“As far as I’m concerned, he never told Prompto, so you girls are lucky you even know. Well.. aside from Namine, of course.”

“I don’t really know what happened.” Kairi mumbled dejectedly, turning off the recording she had going on, to place it on the counter. “C’mon, let me know. I want to know what _really_ happened between the three.”

“Lets just not talk about it, if Noctis wants people to know about it, he’ll say something about wanting you brats knowing the full story.” Terra grumbled, closing the fridge with a can in hand. “So you girls should stop being so damn nosy and just let him live.”

“They _are_ living, you big jerk.” Xion frowned, giving the man a disappointed look, “say- can you take Umbra out for a walk? I think he’s gonna need to poop sometime soon and Noct is probably sleeping.”

“Why can’t you-” Terra sighed, realizing who he was talking to, “yeah, I’ll go take him out. Did you finish cooking the soup? Can I bring that up to the little brat too?”

“Yeah.” Xion nodded, searching for a small bowl to pour the soup in. She passed off the bowl with a spoon to the brunette who decided it was best to leave his can of whatever he was going to drink on the dining room table before heading upstairs to take care of the two beings taking up the third floor.

Not too long after, Terra came back downstairs with Umbra in tow, happy and ready to release whatever was building in his body. “I’ll be back later.” Terra called, opening and closing the door quickly.

Xion sat on the couch, curled up under the blanket as she tried to figure out something else to say to her friends. “I should bring Pryna here sometime.” Namine mumbled to herself, doodling in her small art book. “She’d enjoy hanging out with Umbra.”

“Weren’t they pups from the same litter?” Yuffie questioned, running her hands through her hair in an attempt to make it look mess.

“Yeah, they were. It’d be nice for siblings to get to be close to one another again, don’t you think?”

“Definitely.” Kairi nodded.

* * *

Zack wasn’t exactly too sure of what to do, he was used to the people he works with, but he wasn’t used to the extremely fancy setting. Earlier during their ‘professional get together’, he ran into Cloud and since then they’ve been attached at the hip trying to figure out what to make of their current situation. The duo figured it would be best to stay close to each other and converse at one of the small tables, but suddenly, it turned out like this.

Cloud was basically piss-drunk, he wasn’t even sitting next to Zack anymore because of a dare Angeal made to the man while he was still drinking. They weren’t allowed to sit next to each other until they both were ready to leave. In between the two now sat Angeal and Gladiolus. On the other side of Cloud was Ignis, Genesis and Leon who was sitting the closest to Zack at the circular table.

There were a lot of different ‘bets’ made during the party, to see how long some people could go without being close to each other, and if they could last without drinking as much as they used to, and so forth. Zack figured it was about time to get the blonde out of there. He stood, alerting some of the moderately drunk men using their hands to keep their heads up and off of the table. He made his way over to the blonde who was about two or so minutes away from falling asleep, and carefully pulled him by his arms, grabbing his jacket and the rest of the drink that the blonde was mumbling about wanting to drink. Zack said his subtle goodbyes, still pretty groggy from his own few cups of liquor that he downed earlier.

“... Zack...” Cloud mumbled, trying his best to hold onto his cup as he let the raven guide him out of the building, up to the car that he recognized. “Izzit safe...” His words were pretty slurred, and Zack found it completely entertaining, hearing his boyfriend act like this. “... fer drivin’...”

“For me to drive?” Zack questioned, opening the door for the blonde to climb into the passenger seat, gasping as he tried to keep the liquor in his cup contained. “I can see pretty well, but I wasn’t going to drive away just yet.” He added, before closing the passenger door. He walked over to the driver seat, settling himself down to be comfortable as he waited to sober up just a bit more. “I don’t wanna bring you home while you’re still like that, so... wanna come to my place?”

“...iz clozzer.” Cloud mumbled, spinning the liquid in the cup.

“Doesn’t that make you dizzy? Honestly, you don’t need to drink anymore.” Zack chuckled, attempting to take the cup out of the blonde’s hand. “I’m gonna charge you for this drive if you don’t let go of that cup, Spike.” Zack raised his eyebrow, watching Cloud who seemed to have been contemplating a lot of different things in the matter of seconds.

“Are we....” Cloud was trying his best to speak as clearly as possible, “... going to... your...”

“Yeah, I’m bringing us to my place.” Zack grinned, “but you gotta put that cup down first.”

Cloud nodded, carefully placing the cup into one of the many cup holders, “are... you good enough to-”

“I can drive, babe.” Zack confirmed, starting the engine. “It’s not a far drive, so we _should_ be okay.”

* * *

By the time Zack and Cloud managed to get out of the car, it was already midnight, and Zack was honestly hoping Xion and her friends decided that they were going to have a sleepover in _her_ room and not in the living room. When he managed to open the front door, he took off both his and Cloud’s shoes, and took the cup out of the ever-so-stubborn Cloud who still wanted to drink the last of what was in there and probably force himself to puke. Zack placed the cup on the dining room table, then continued to guide Cloud to the couch, not wanting to bring the blonde up the stairs where he’d probably just trip and fall or something. Zack placed their jackets on the arm of the couch, unbuttoned Cloud’s shirt, and took off his belt, pulling the blanket on top of the blonde who fell asleep in seconds.

Zack’s new focus was to get a small bucket out of the kitchen, bringing it to the couch just in case either of them needed it, unbuttoned his own shirt and unbuckling his belt, he went to lay as close as possible to the blonde but made sure they were both comfortable as they fell asleep on the couch.

Hours later in the early morning, Noctis slowly walked down the steps, once again with Umbra in tow, happily waiting to get some food for the morning. Noctis sighed, walking into the kitchen, going into one of the cabinets to pick up Umbra’s dog food. He opened the bag and walked over to the the big dog bowl, pouring out quite a bit of food for the dog to feast on while he turned his attention to the water bowl. He turned to see where Umbra had disappeared off to, from not hearing the dog chewing loudly on his kibbles.

“Uh... Umbra?” Noctis whispered, peeking into the dining room to try and find the dog. He spotted Umbra peeking at the cup left on the table, and with curiosity, Noctis went to look at the unusual cup. “Whos' is this..?” He whispered to himself, glancing at the dog who whimpered quietly and ran away to the living room. “Umbra, what are you doing?” Noctis questioned, following the dog that wanted to show him Zack _and_ Cloud sleeping peacefully on the couch. _His_ couch! Noctis frowned smelling the unfamiliar smell, and walked back into the kitchen to get a giant pot, filling it with as much water as possible before storming over to the duo, dropping the water on their heads.

“Fu--!” Zack yelled, rolling off of the couch and into the somewhat messy bucket. Cloud covered his face with the pillow, groaning in pain saying something about his head. “This is- so fucking gross.” Zack groaned, standing from his bucket, trying to look at his butt to see what mess it was in. “Who even puked in this- you or me?” He asked, looking at Cloud who refused to move in any way.

“You two smell terrible.” Noctis stated, glaring at the raven who was more focused on his clothes than anything. “Go take a shower or something. When did you two even come in?”

“I don’t know.” Zack shrugged. “Leave Spike alone for now, I’m gonna go clean this all up then give him some medicine or something. I don’t know... my head is killing me- and clean up this damn mess, Noct.” Zack continued talking, partially nagging at Noctis while he made his way up the stairs, complaining about how his body was hurting him and that he smelled like shit from the puke.

Umbra sat obediently, practically smiling as he watched Noctis groan, picking up the messy bucket, glaring at Cloud’s once again sleeping body. “You can’t be freakin’ serious.” Noctis grumbled, walking into the kitchen, unsure of what to do with the bucket filled with gunk. “Urgh. How in the world did this become normal for my life.” Noctis asked himself, glancing over to Umbra who tilted his head innocently. “You can go and eat, Umbra. I’ll figure out what to do about this.” Umbra whimpered quietly, watching Noctis throw out the liquid into a bag. He didn’t want to move because his body was completely uncomfortable and Noctis isn’t usually the one that takes him out for walks. Umbra’s brain was functioning quickly, trying to figure out the most effective way of telling Noctis that he needed to go outside.

Curiously, Noctis placed the bucket onto the counter, and turned his attention to the dog who continued to stare at him, whimpering. “What’s wrong now?” He asked, tying up the bag securely before tossing it into another bag to subdue the smell. Umbra stood, running towards the door, and the raven could hear the small scratches at the front door. “Are you serious.” Noctis groaned, walking up to the front door, “you really have to go _now_?”

Umbra barked loudly, unable to hold it in much longer, he started scratching at the door faster. “Okay, okay!” Noctis yelled, throwing on his shoes. He opened up the door for Umbra, who ran out and started running his normal walking route so that he could reclaim his territory. By the time Noctis locked the front door and caught up with the dog, Umbra had already left him a small gift in front of a tree. Noctis sighed, cleaning up the small mess as he looked off to where Umbra was making his way to.

Honestly, the raven had no idea where Zack and Terra walked Umbra, and which directions they took him, but clearly Umbra remembered the route fairly well, to be guiding Noctis as much as he was. Quietly, Noctis followed Umbra, waving to the few people who seemed to be used to talking to Umbra, and were always happy to greet the kind dog. The few people practically forced Noctis to talk to others, but it was mainly for Umbra, after all. It was when he came across a familiar duo that he had wished he brought Umbra’s leash to drag him somewhere else.

Luna and Stella, walking towards Noctis with Pryna leading the way. It was hard for many people to tell the difference between the two girls, since they were twins, but the biggest difference was that Stella’s hair was a few shades darker, and she lets her hair stay down, while Luna usually has her hair upright. It was extremely easy for Noctis, however, because Stella hated Noctis’ very existence. Although, It was obvious for everyone but Luna, who seemed to be completely oblivious to the hatred and assumed it was them being friendly.

Umbra, as happy as ever, ran up to his sister, barking and running in circles, startling the sisters. “Umbra?” Noctis heard Luna say, she kneeled down to eye level with the dog who happily went to greet her, practically giving her a hug. “Is Zack and Terra with you?” She asked, looking up to see a raven that she wasn’t expecting. “Noctis?”

“Hey.” Noctis mumbled, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. “Do you usually walk into Zack and Terra while they’re walking Umbra?”

“All the time.” Stella stated, placing her hands on her hips, “I’d rather see them than you, that’s for sure.”

Luna stood, subtly dusting her pants off, she gave a kind smile to Noctis. “I usually talk to Zack, while Stella has some conversations with Terra. Its mainly so that Umbra and Pryna can bond together and have fun. You should visit sometime, so that they can have more time together.”

“Or you could stay home, and just let us have Umbra again.” Stella grumbled, earning a curious stare from her sister.

“I... um- yeah I’ll think about it.” Noctis gave an awkward smile, quietly wishing that Umbra would pick up on the awkward air and be ready to go.

“Would you really?” Luna smiled, “it’d be nice to see you more often.”

“Glad to hear.” Noctis nodded.

“Have you seen Namine? She went to your house yesterday, but I don’t recall her coming back home.” Stella asked, sounding a bit worried about her younger sister.

Noctis raised an eyebrow, trying to recall the last time he saw the girl. “She spent the night, I guess. I haven’t seen her this morning yet.” Luna and Stella nodded at the response.

“I’m going over there, to get her. I want to make sure you don’t _touch_ her.” Stella added, not noticing the strange look Luna was giving her.

“I guess it would be nice of us to go over to your house as well, huh?” Luna asked, looking down at Pryna and Umbra, who were laying next to each other, making little barking sounds. She assumed they were talking to each other, and found it incredibly cute. “We never really made an effort to really see each other as of late.” Luna mentioned, looking up to Noctis, who seemed really eager to get out of there. “Is it okay if we go out sometime today?”

“That- sure... it’d be nice-”

“Can we continue walking? Pryna still hasn’t had a chance to eat yet.” Stella interrupted, looking off to her twin, who gasped and gave Noctis an apologetic look.

“I didn’t get to feed Umbra yet either. The foods in the bowl but he’s really picky about when he wants to eat.”

“Sounds like someone we know.” Stella commented, earning a chuckle from Luna.

_Seriously, this woman..._

“We can just feed them at my place, and you can go get Namine, since you’re so worried about her.” Noctis said with a bit more sass, as his response was meant for Stella.

“That sounds nice.” Luna nodded, ignoring the change in tone.

A few sassy comments later, the trio began walking once more, this time back to Noctis’ home. Noctis intentionally walked next to Luna to avoid any direct comments from Stella, Luna seemed to catch on at some point, interrupting most of Stella’s sassy comments and insisted for the twin to be respectful as they were going to Noctis’ house after all.

The moment Noctis opened up the front door, Pryna and Umbra instantly ran into the kitchen, alerting Zack who yelled, most likely in the kitchen. Noctis took off his shoes in a hurry, with Luna and Stella doing the same, they followed Noctis into the kitchen, watching as the two dogs were jumping all over Zack, giving him sloppy kisses all over his face.

“Pryna, Umbra, sit!” Luna commanded, pointing to the ground. The two dogs froze hearing their names and sat in unison, giving Zack the chance to stand up and wash off his face in the sink. “I’m so sorry about that, Zack.”

“It’s cool when it’s just one dog, but those two... together...” Zack groaned, wiping off his face. “Nice to see the two of you though. What brings ya’ here?”

“I came to get Namine.” Stella said with a smile, “is she upstairs? The second floor, right?”

“Yep!” Zack grinned, watching the blonde slowly walk up the steps. “Did the pups eat yet? The bowl’s still full so I got kinda confused.”

“You know how picky he is.” Luna chuckled, “he’s just like Noctis. Umbra doesn’t like to eat without using the bathroom first.”

“It makes sense, he just likes being comfortable.” Noctis tried to defend his dog, who looked at him happily. “That doesn’t make him picky.”

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.” Zack teased, “was it the puke? Me sleeping on your couch? Or having to walk Umbra today?”

“All of it.” Noctis stated.

“Puke?” Luna questioned, “what happened today?”

“A _wonderful_ party.” Zack chuckled. “I just came down to get some food for Spike and I, so... you two have at it. I’ll talk to you some other time, Luna.”

“Oh- take care, Zack.” Luna smiled, watching the oldest man gather some food and a bottle of what she assumed was liquor. He waved as he walked up the steps.

“They already... they were sleeping on _my_ couch because they were drunk, why the hell are they drinking again?” Noctis groaned, looking in one of the cabinets to see how many other liquor bottles they had left. “I’m not going to let him buy anymore after this.”

“At least they’re having fun, no?” Luna questioned. Noctis turned, giving the blonde his full attention.

“Are you saying that you don’t have fun with me?”

“I have a lot of fun with you, Noctis.” Luna stated simply.

“Oh..” Noctis nodded slowly, trying to think of something to say.

“Do you mind getting Pryna a bowl of food as well, she’s looking pretty hungry now.”

“Y-yeah... I’ll feed her.”

“Say, how old is Zack?” Luna questioned, leaning on the counter as she watched Noctis place down a second bowl for Pryna, who thanked him by sitting under his arm as he tried to pour some food in the bowl.

“He’s 20 something.” Noctis answered dismissively.

“Do you know when his birthday is?”

Noctis turned his attention to Luna once more, raising his eyebrow this time, he opened his mouth to ask a question. “Why do you want to know that?”

“I’m just curious about him, he’s really energetic.”

“I guess he is.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make this about him.” Luna mentioned, “I can assure you that I’m just curious about who he is as a person.”

“He’s an enabler and he’s watching over me, what more is there to really know?” Noctis mumbled.

“He doesn’t make you eat vegetables?” Luna watched as Noctis shook his head, “astonishing.”

* * *

“You left Noctis with Luna downstairs?” Cloud questioned, raising his eyebrows as Zack placed the two shot glasses down on the bedside table. “ _And_ Stella’s here?”

“He probably forgot about Stella because he’s with Luna, to be honest.” Zack chuckled, pouring the liquor into the glasses. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to hold this down? You had quite a bit yesterday.”

“Whatever I don’t finish you can save it for later.” Cloud insisted, “I can assure you I’m going to drink it as soon as I get the chance.”

“You are so not cute.” Zack shook his head, handing off one of the shot glasses to the blonde, who gulped it down quickly. “You’re going to run me dry if you’re going to be like this.”

“I’ve been in a bad mood lately.” Cloud grumbled, “I’ve been thinking about a lot of things.”

“Like what?” Zack questioned, sitting on the bed next to the blonde. “I’m here for reasons like this, y’know.”

“That’s not important.” Cloud insisted, “hit me.” He shoved his glass in Zack’s face, waiting for him to gulp down his own shot. Zack looked at the hand and smacked it lightly, giving the blonde a grin, Cloud shook his head, “no- not _me_ , the glass, Zack.”

Zack raised an eyebrow and smacked the glass instead, “you don’t need it.” He stated, glancing at the blonde.

“I may not _need_ it, but I _want_ it.” Cloud frowned, reaching past the raven to grab the bottle to pour himself another shot.

“Are you going to tell me what’s been bothering you as of late?” Zack questioned, “or am I going to have to force it out of you?”

“Prompto- and Sephiroth, but mostly Prompto.” Cloud mumbled, taking another gulp. “Prompto’s probably having problems with Noctis, I dunno. He said something about having an ‘emotional crisis’ and since then, he’s been hiding in his room. I don’t know what to do about it, so I just haven’t talked to him.”

“You _left_ the kid with his emotional crisis, and you don’t know what to do?” Zack questioned, placing his glass down on the bedside table. “Spike-... shouldn’t you be paying attention to the kid that’s clearly calling for help?”

“Are _you_ paying attention to Noctis?” Cloud asked, pouring himself yet another glass. “I barely heard him today, but I can tell that there’s something wrong with him, it’s pretty obvious.”

“Oh when did you become Mr. _Keen_?” Zack teased, taking the bottle away from the blonde who sloppily took his third shot. “I don’t understand how you’re just gulping this shit down.”

“You get used to it when you just don’t care about the taste.” Cloud mumbled, attempting to reach for the bottle once more. “And it’s not that I’m _keen_ , you asshole. I can just tell when Noctis is in one of his moods, I knew him long enough by now. Besides I deal with people like Riku.” He added in, climbing onto Zack, “give me the bottle, Zack.”

“I deal with Terra, but I’m still not picking up any distress signals from Noct.”

“Can you just-” Cloud sighed, finally giving up as he placed his glass on the bedside table next to Zacks'. He sat on Zacks' lap, staring straight at him as he placed his hands on the raven’s chest. “You wanna go talk to Noct? He needs a father-figure in his life, after all.”

“I don’t think he’s called his dad in a bit, actually.” Zack thought out loud, earning a sigh from the blonde. “What?”

“I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m trying to get at.” Cloud shook his head slowly, trying not to make himself dizzy. “His dad sent him here, with _you_ , because he knew that you were going to be able to take care of him. It’s pretty clear that Noctis needs a fatherly figure in his life, or he’s not going to know what to do with himself.”

“You want _me_ to be his father-figure?” Zack questioned, his voice raising a pitch or two in confusion. “I don’t think he’d want to look up to me for anything like that-”

“Did you forget that someone else you know _also_ looked up to you?” Cloud questioned, eyeing the raven whose face was filled with confusion.

“You looked up to me too, at one point, didn’t you?” Zack asked quietly, “I almost forgot that.”

“You’re someone to look up to, after all, Zack.” Cloud mumbled, “so, you should go talk to Noctis.”

“And _you_ should go talk to Prompto, don’t think I was going to forget that.”

“You forget everything else.” Cloud shrugged, grabbing his shot class and the bottle out of Zack’s hand, pouring another cup for him to gulp down without a second thought.

“That’s inspirational right there.” Zack pointed to the glass in Cloud’s hand, “for you to be able to do that and just not care about the aftertaste- that’s inspiration.”

“It tastes like shit but it makes me feel better.”

“That’s the signs of an alcoholic, Spike.”

“As long as it gets me through the day.” Cloud mumbled, maneuvering in a way that brought him off of Zack’s lap and the bed. He slowly walked out of the bedroom, which worried Zack, and caused the raven to closely follow behind the blonde to make sure that he’d be okay making it to whatever destination he was headed towards.

“Spike, I’m really going to have to ask you to re-think a _lot_ of things. I can’t have you walking around like this. Especially not while you’re walking around like a crazy drunk.”

“Excuse you?” Cloud questioned, turning on his heels, he eyed down Zack, somewhat glaring at the raven who was trying his best to keep him stable. “I’m _not_ a crazy drunk, Zack. I’m a _normal_ drunk. Thanks.”

“Cloud, I love you, but you gotta lay off of all the liquor.” Zack insisted, attempting to reach out for the bottle that Cloud shoved behind his back to hide it from the taller man.

“Zack, how old are you?!” The duo froze, hearing Zack’s name being called by Noctis on the first floor. He slowly started to walk up the stairs, with the intention of finding the raven who _should’ve_ been in his room. “What the-”

Cloud, now facing Noctis, stared at him awkwardly, the bottle still behind his back, giving Zack the chance to take the bottle away from the blonde, who groaned in protest. “Zac-”

“Why do you want to know how old I am?” Zack questioned, wrapping his arm around Cloud’s shoulder. “I’m turning 23 next year.”

“What- really?!” Noctis stood, completely shocked at the answer. “I didn’t think you were _that_ young... uh...” He looked down to the stairs, “Luna wanted to know some things about you, but... I didn’t really know much, so I couldn’t... answer her as much as I wanted to...”

“You want to get to know me?” Zack asked, resting his head on Cloud’s. “That’s a first.”

“I live here with you guys. The only thing that I really know about you is that you work for Shinra, you’re my cousin and you’re dating Cloud. I don’t really know _you_... y’know?”

“I guess that makes sense. It must be weird living with someone you don’t really know.” Zack nodded, rubbing Cloud’s shoulder. “Yeah, okay then. Let’s get to know each other.”

“Where’s Luna?” Cloud asked, interrupting the duo.

“Luna, Stella, Namine and Pryna all left not too long ago. Which is why I came to talk to Zack.”

“Do you miss your dad?” Cloud asked, a plain look on his face.

Noctis took a step back on the stairs, there was a moment of silence before a quiet “yes” was heard from the younger raven.

“I miss my mom too.” Cloud mumbled. “She was the only person who would really listen to me for a long time. But she never told me about so many things, so I was left in the dark for a while.” He looked down to where Noctis was standing, making eye-contact with him. “I didn’t even tell her that I was going to leave. I didn't tell her that I was going to take Ven with me. It's been about 5 years since I last talked to her. She’d probably have a heart attack if I went to go find her now, god knows.”

“Cloud- how is this supposed to help Noct?” Zack questioned, giving his boyfriend a look of worry.

“And you- Zack,” Cloud turned to look at the worried raven, “you left your parents too, didn’t you? You didn’t even tell them where you were going either, and you went to join Shinra, right?” There was something in Cloud’s voice that was alarming for Zack, and the raven’s worry began to peak. “At least you became what you wanted to become, right?”

Zack looked off to Noctis, who momentarily made eye contact with the fellow raven before turning his attention elsewhere. “N-Noctis.” Upon hearing his name, Noctis turned to glance back at the older male. “I’ll talk to you in a bit, okay?” Noctis nodded slowly, walking down the steps and presumably into the living room.

“I’m not okay.” Cloud answered before Zack could even ask the question. “I’m not- I’m really not.” Zack nodded, holding onto Cloud tightly as the tears started to fall. He could feel the warmth of the fresh tears hitting and seeping through his shirt, “I’m not okay...”

Zack gave a small smile, guiding Cloud back to his room. He knew that in due time, Cloud would fall asleep from crying like this.

* * *

Noctis sat quietly on the couch, accompanied by Umbra, who sat next to him, curled up in the decorative blanket. He sat patiently, trying to find something on the television as he waited for Zack to finally come down the stairs. It took an hour or so before he heard footsteps slowly coming down the stairs, and quickly, the raven turned to call out to the man. “Zac- oh... I thought-”

“It’s fine.” Terra mumbled, waving at the raven, “a lot of people think I’m Zack. Sorry I can’t help you there.”

Noctis sighed, shaking his head slowly, he stared at the brunette who was picking up random items from the other side of the counter in the Kitchen. “Say...” Noctis spoke quietly, but it was good enough for Terra to respond. “How well do you know Zack?”

“Zack is... my brother?” Terra questioned, leaning on the counter as he took a bite into an apple he picked up. “What do you want to know?”

“Why did he want to become a SOLDIER?”

“Well.” Terra took his time swallowing his piece of the apple. “Zack joined because he looked up to Angeal, he wanted to be like Angeal. Not too long in his journey, he was being taught under Angeal, and he made a friend. He started looking up to Sephiroth, and wanted to be a 1st class just like the iconic trio.” Terra took a moment to take another bite of the apple, slowly swallowing it once more. “So... I’m not sure what he really wanted, but he definitely made it far for whatever he was aiming for.”

“You’re his brother right?”

“That’s what I’d like to believe, yeah.” Terra nodded and shrugged, examining his apple to see where else he’d like to bite. “Have you ever gone into Zack’s room? He has a lot of interesting things in there. I say, if you want to learn about things that Zack probably won’t ever tell you, it’d be to look in his room. You can start off by asking him about that Buster Sword.”

“He has a sword in his room?” Noctis questioned, sounding more interested than before.

“Well yeah, he’s a part of the military anyways. I’m worried about them calling him back for more missions and stuff, because he can be gone for months, so it gets kinda scary.”

“You get worried about him too?”

“Of course.” Terra nodded, taking a big bite out of the apple, he shifted his feet so that one was crossed over the other, as he used his elbows to support his body on the counter. “Also, did you know- Zack’s full name is Zachary?”

“What-” Noctis gave the brunette a small smile. “Where did that come from?”

“I remember looking at one of those old books Zack had, and you know how some books have that “ _this book belongs to_ ” things on the inside? Zack wrote “ _Zachary Fair_ ”, I never laughed so hard at a name before.”

“Is it funny that my name’s Zachary?” Zack asked, slowly walking down the stairs with a smug look on his face. “And I _knew_ you used to go into my room to look at my stuff.”

“Who said I ever stopped?” Terra teased, throwing his apple at the raven who caught it with ease. “At least your reflexes are still up to par.”

“I still work out.” Zack grinned, “I gotta be in top shape all the time.”

“Zack...” Noctis mumbled, gaining the attention of the oldest family member. “Can we talk?”

“One on one? Sure, but it seemed like you were getting a good amount of info from Terra already.” Zack questioned, throwing the apple back to Terra. “Throw that thing away, it’s gross.”

Terra groaned, shook his head, and tossed the apple over the counter, and shot Zack a snobby look before retreating back upstairs.

“What does Terra do for a living?”

“He’s a writer, actually.” Zack gave a small smile, “sometimes he goes outside, but he’s been pretty stable with what he’s doing. You should check out _his_ room one day.”

“Are you two really brothers?”

Zack eyed Noctis, interested in where he was getting these questions. Zack figured it was best to sit on the couch with the other raven, allowing Umbra to sit on his lap as he sat facing Noctis, giving the man a cheesy smile. “He’s not, not by blood. But we’re sworn brothers, something like that. I’ve been calling him my brother for years, and he switched his last name to mine, so... we’re basically brothers.”

Noctis nodded slowly, thinking of other things to ask, “Terra told me about a Buster Sword that you have, what’s that all about?”

“It was a gift from Angeal.” Zack answered simply, “when Angeal felt that I would have more use for it, he gave it to me.”

“Why did you join Shinra?”

“I want to be a hero.” Zack never let his grin fade as he answered, ruffling Umbra’s fur playfully. “I think I’m getting closer and closer to that goal, as the days go by, and as I continue helping people.”

“I’m glad you’re a really hyperactive person, Zack. Even though I barely know you- you still take care of me like I’m one of your own.”

“I take care of everyone the same way, Noct.” Zack chuckled, “Xion’s Terra’s little sister, she’s not directly related to me, but I don’t think she knows that. She looks more like me than she does to Terra.”

“Really? Wow...”

“I’m an only child, just like you.”

“I never knew that.”

“I used to spell my name ‘Z-A-X’, because I thought it was a lot cooler. But my dad would get angry at me for it.” Zack admitted, shaking his head, “I was a silly kid, I’m glad that never went away.” He continued to pet Umbra’s face as he thought of more things to say. “Oh-! I can’t remember my eye color, because it’s been infused with Mako.”

“They made you use Mako?”

“Yeah, it’s... standardized.” Zack shrugged, “I’ve been fine with it, it’s not a requirement for me to live.”

“I see...”

“You remember your guards? Ignis and Gladiolus?”

Noctis and Umbra’s ears perked, hearing the familiar names, Noctis nodded, “yeah- I haven’t seen those two in a really long time, what are they up to?”

“They _technically_ work in Shinra, but not really. They just work around the place, and they work in some other places too, but, I usually see them around the Shinra building. They’ve been asking for you, actually.”

“Why did you never tell me that before?” Noctis questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“We weren’t too close, and every time I remembered, you were always out with Prompto doing your thang.” Zack teased, “besides, they wanted to visit sometime soon.”

“When were you going to tell me _that_?”

“Now?” Zack tilted his head, “they wanna visit, and I told them anytime they’re free enough to do so.”

“When are they going to come?” Noctis continued to ask.

“That’s a secret.” Zack gave a smug smile, ruffling Umbra’s fur once more. “I wish I could say~.”

“You should say~.” Noctis mimicked Zacks’ playful tone, scooting closer to the older raven. “I want to know.”

“Shouldn’t I be learning about you too?” Zack asked, earning an agreeing whimper from Umbra. “I don’t even know how old you are.”

“20.” Noctis answered simply.

“I already know you don’t like vegetables... so... what types of things _do_ you like?”

“Fishing.” Noctis answered, his tone quite happy.

“Fishing?” Zack couldn’t help but smile at that answer, “I’ve never heard anyone... so happy to fish.”

“You’d be shocked.” Noctis shrugged, “I really like nature, but I don’t like bugs.”

“Well that’s obvious. I’d say you don’t look like a bug type of guy, but you also don’t look like a fishing type of guy either, so... I’m pretty shocked.” Zack chuckled.

“So, can I ask a somewhat personal question?”

“Did we reach that level?”

“I’d sure hope so. I’m kinda curious about your life.”

“Well, I’m curious about yours too.”

“Zack, I’m glad that I decided to take this chance to get to know you, really. I really felt awkward being in the same place as you, and I... even though you know my dad- even though we’re family... my dad never really told me about you until just a few years back. Then he told me to come here and all of this happened.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been living with me for like... what- 3 years? 4?” Zack chuckled, “and it took so long for us to finally talk to each other like real human beings.”

“It didn’t take you too long to realize I was super picky with my food.” Noctis pointed out, opening his arms for Umbra to come crawl into his lap. He took the warmth from the dog, and smiled softly at the big beast on his lap. “You’re pretty keen, y’know.”

“It doesn’t take much to notice when there’s a kid that just constantly _happens_ to have their greens and anything healthy for them left on the plate after every meal. You’re like a child that doesn’t want to put the effort into growing.” Zack teased, “it’s okay though, it’s just a part of who you are as a person, and I don’t want to change that.”

“You’re such an enabler.”

“Oh boy, I know.”

 


	2. Well Then

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strife's household and birthday boy mcgee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I focus on birthdays quite a bit in this "arc" so to speak, but it'll start getting serious in a few chapters. 
> 
> Also! The kids are/were in extra schooling before their actual school year starts in the next month. They'll mention it again!
> 
> I don't own those good 'ol FoB songs but I hope you guys recognize them as they go. I also don't own anything aside from this story so... yeah.

Personally, Cloud wasn’t the type of person who would  _ always  _ be drunk, but as of late, he’s been extremely stressed out and he’s not sure of how to talk to Zack about it. After his momentary break-down while he was trying to prove a point to Noctis, his brain started to malfunction, leading him to talk more about what was going on with what he heard from Zack, rather than his own personal struggles. Zack escorted him back to the raven’s room, and even though it was extremely appreciated, he tried his hardest to go to sleep, but he found himself shoving his face into the fluffiest pillow, his pillow, with the intention of doing  _ something _ . The blonde sighed heavily, rubbing his face into the pillow rather aggressively, feeling his eyes slowly start to puff up in irritation. He looked off to the side, the bedside table with the two shot glasses and the bottle of liquor Zack decided to leave in his reach. He soon figured it was best he didn’t touch the bottle anymore, or he’d go out of control again. 

“I’m a fucking idiot.” Cloud mumbled to himself, completely embarrassed with his actions these past few days. There were way too many things passing through his head, telling him to focus on them, but he was trying his best to avoid them as efficiently as possible. Another heavy sigh came out of the blonde’s mouth as he looked around the decently sized room. 

Adjacent to Zack’s bed was the door to the hallway, and along the connected wall was the entertainment system which covered most, if not all, of the one wall. It was filled with a bunch of little knick-knacks, two different game systems, and a bunch of games and books decorating the empty spaces. He also had a small loveseat sitting across from the television. The wall parallel to the door was a dresser with a full body mirror immediately next to it, and a rather big window with simple black curtains. 

Cloud felt a small smile pull at his lips, recalling Zack complaining about how the room was set up, and wished to be able to get rid of the window for the purpose of re-adjusting his room the way that he wanted it. Eventually Zack was going to ask Terra to assist him in moving the furniture around, but currently, the two of them were too busy collectively to really be able to effectively fix the room. 

Cloud chuckled quietly, recalling all of the silly things Zack has said about his room, and truthfully, Cloud wished his room was as simply decorated as the raven’s. In comparison, his room was a lot more bland, basically just a bed and a dresser with a small mirror for him to fight his hair in front of. Cloud turned his attention to the entertainment section, making his way over to the corner in between that and the full-body mirror. He looked at the SOLDIER sword that was gifted to the raven from Angeal, and placed his hand on the hilt, feeling the metal against his skin. He placed his hand on the blade itself, feeling how sharp it was, and whilst doing this, noticed something strange behind the sword, a small box. 

Curiously, Cloud squatted down, inspecting everything behind the sword. He reached for the box, feeling it in his hands, and after a second or so of inspecting the outside of the box, he opened it, noticing a rather expensive looking ring sparkling in his face. “What is this?” He asked himself, taking the ring out of its holder, inspecting the insides of the ring for any answers. He spotted the word ‘ _ Cloud _ ’ engraved in cursive and raised his eyebrow as he read his name out loud. “What the hell is this for?” 

It took another moment of thought before everything slowly started to click. Lately, Zack was mentioning combining the households, even though it would be quite problematic for the both of them, everyone was relatively friendly to each other, and it wouldn’t take much to buy out a bigger house with their combined money. Initially, Cloud thought it was just a joke, so he continued to joke around with him about it, not thinking that it could be a real thing. Another sign being Zack’s constant comments about weddings and how he found them interesting but almost pointless to put the money into, and he’d rather save it for other things, like family. 

Cloud sighed, closing the box, returning it to its home. He stood, trying to get his senses together, he looked around the room for his jacket, and made note to return Zacks’ shirt as soon as possible. With his mind in a bit of a rush, he walked out of Zacks’ room, leaving the door cracked as he walked down the stairs, trying his best not to alert the two ravens who were having a conversation about Umbra and how they’d like to have more than just one dog. In the corner of his eye, Zack waved to the blonde who gave him a cautious look. 

“Spike- you okay?” Zack asked, completely worried as he watched the blonde continue to walk. “Uh- Spike?” He asked again. Noctis figured it was best to stay silent, holding onto Umbra as they watched Zack jump up from his spot on the couch, chasing after Cloud, who was just about done putting on his shoes. “Spike- what’s going on? Are you okay?” 

“What was that, in your room?” Cloud asked, turning to eye the raven down. “Behind the sword, what was that?” 

“You went looking around my room?” Zack questioned, “why were you even by the sword?” 

“I wanted to  _ look _ at the sword, Zack.” Cloud mumbled, “but what was that? What did you think you were going to get from hiding that there?” 

“Why did you look in it?” Zack asked, “I mean- yeah it’s for you but...”

“I thought the whole idea of marriage was completely useless for you? I thought it was a waste of money.” 

“Spike we’re not even engaged. I wasn’t planning on asking you to get married to me any time soon, if that’s what you were thinking.  _ Eventually, _ I was going to tell you that I had that, and I was  _ thinking _ about it, but I wouldn’t do that to you  _ now _ .” 

“What do you mean by that?” Cloud squinted his eyes, placing his hand on the doorknob just in case things went sour. “You  _ want _ to get married to me though? Eventually?” 

“Yeah- of course. We’ve been together for so long, I don’t see why--” 

“Zack...” Cloud shook his head, interrupting the raven that was more than ready to defend himself. “I can’t. I just- I can’t.” 

“Spike-” Zack tried to reason with the blonde who started to open the door, making it easier for him to escape, “Spike- wait please--!” Cloud turned on his heels, gripping onto his jacket as he ran out of the front door without another word, leaving the door open as the raven called for him to come back.

* * *

Cloud sat on his bed, curled up and progressively feeling the depression fall on his shoulders. He made it back to his house, and the moment he walked through the front door, he was bombarded with 4 other blondes that were all happy to see him, as well as a rabbit that was named Chocobo. Cloud couldn’t properly greet them, so he stormed past all of them and up the stairs to his room without a single word. It’s been at least 3 or so hours since then, and the other blondes understood that it was a time that Cloud just wanted to be alone. He made a mental note to thank them later, but currently, his mind was just filled with worry. The thought of fully committing to Zack was eating away at him, and there was no way in the world he was going to be comfortable with telling Zack that he’d rather break up than get married. 

“Um- Cloud?” Cloud turned to see Prompto inching his way into the room, putting his hands behind his back as he looked down onto the ground. “Can you... help me with something?” 

Cloud raised an eyebrow, letting his limbs fall in a relaxed way as he dropped his legs over the edge of the bed, turning his attention to the other worried blonde. “Yeah.. what’s up?” He asked, his voice somewhat raspy and threatening to choke up a bit for the tears to actually start working like they should. 

“Um- you were over at Zack’s right?” Prompto asked, looking up at the older blonde hopefully. “Was... Noctis there?” 

“Yeah he... he was. Why?” 

“Was he... happy?” 

Cloud tilted his head instinctively at the question, trying to figure out what Prompto was trying to hint at. After a moment of thinking, Cloud shook his head, “he was pretty troubled, as far as I’m concerned.” 

“Oh, good!” Prompto smiled, “thanks!” He laughed, running out of the room, closing the door with a soft click. 

Cloud raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to deal with the strange attitude that Prompto had, and at some point, he wished to be as carefree and happy as that one blonde as well. Prompto on the other hand, was completely happy hearing that the prince was as troubled as he was, and probably even worse. So, the peppy blonde made his way back downstairs, into the large living room that took up most of the floor. 

In comparison to the Fair household, the first floor was made up of a living room and a dining room. Everything in the immediate area of the stairs and the front door were all living room, but the dining room was shoved into a corner on the right hand side of the staircase and a door that leads to one of two basements that technically belongs to Ventus, the second oldest blonde out of the Strife household, and the fourth oldest overall of the 5 currently inside the house. The kitchen, first bathroom and Cloud’s room were on the 2nd floor, with Cloud’s room being directly across from the kitchen and the bathroom directly across the steps. On the 3rd floor was Roxas’ room, and 3 guest rooms.

Prompto grinned at his family, reaching to pick up the rabbit who was peacefully nibbling on a piece of a carrot. “Guess what guys- I was so worried, but he was upset too!” Prompto laughed, snuggling his face close to the rabbit’s own. He admired the light yellow tint on the fur as it nibbled away at a carrot, not really caring about all the affection. 

“Well- we’re glad to hear that.” Ventus mumbled, glancing over at the happy blonde. “When are you finally going to... y’know-”

“-talk to him?” Roxas finished the question, tilting his head in anticipation. “Aren’t you two supposed to be best friends anyway, you’re supposed to make him feel safe and happy, right? That’s your job right?” 

“I’m not working for Noct.” Prompto pointed out. “And don’t do that twinning stuff, it’s really weird.” Prompto shook his head, earning a smile from the 4th blonde, Demyx, who is Prompto’s younger brother. “Anyways- I don’t  _ have _ to make sure that he’s happy. He’s gotta learn the life of a real person in the real world, y’know.” 

“Yeah but, have you seen Noctis?” Demyx questioned, rocking back and forth in his chair, “he’s like me, he’s a big baby.” 

“He’s not a big baby.” Prompto disagreed, putting Chocobo on Roxas’ lap. Roxas raised an eyebrow, not sure what to do with the rabbit who lazily sat on him, staring into what felt like his soul. “Noctis is a guy who’s able to take care of himself, and if he can’t, he tries his best. Even though he’s lazy, he’s capable of doing a lot of things.” 

“Okay but why did you leave him alone then?” Ventus questioned, grabbing Chocobo off of Roxas’ lap, for the sake of not wanting the poor blonde to claim that he lost his soul to a rabbit. “Also, Roxas isn’t my twin, we’re a year apart.” 

“And I ate a banana for dinner.” Prompto rolled his eyes, earning a scoff from Ventus and Roxas, and another chuckle from Demyx. “Look- I know Noct better than the rest of you, okay? Just let me do what I’m doing. I’m glad he’s upset, because that means that what I said to him  _ meant _ something.” 

“If you want Noct to break up with Luna, why don’t you just tell him how  _ you _ feel about him?” Roxas questioned, “wouldn’t that just make sense?” 

“There’s no way Noctis would be okay with knowing his closest friend is gay for him.” Prompto shook his head. 

“You honestly don’t know how Noctis would take it.” Demyx pointed out, “remember when you told him about back in the day? He didn’t care then, he was just glad he was able to make a reasonable friend.” 

“Listen to your brother.” Ventus teased, playing with Chocobo’s ears. “Besides, Noctis is a really reasonable guy, he’s not just going to throw you away because you’re  _ gay. _ He already has Cloud and Zack in his life, and he probably knows by now that Terra’s gay, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care.” 

“Noctis is the only  _ statistically  _ normal person in that household. Two family members are gay and the other is an aromantic asexual.” Roxas chimed in, finding it completely interesting. “Will you be able to make Noctis gay too?” 

“Honestly-” Demyx mumbled, “I think that... at the most, Noctis would want to  _ try _ dating Prompto, but, he most likely wouldn’t want to stay with Prompto.” 

Prompto frowned, “what’s wrong with me?” He asked his brother, who shrugged in response. 

“It’s not quite ‘what’s wrong with  _ you? _ ’ that’s the question, but more like... ‘do you really love this person?’ as a question for Noctis. I don’t think the problem is you, Prompto.” Ventus commented, ruffling Chocobo’s ears. “From what I can tell- I definitely agree with Dem over here. I don’t think that a relationship with you and Noctis would last too long, for a lot of different reasons, but I  _ strongly _ feel like you should just stay away from all of that. Because if Noctis can’t get his relationship with Luna back, and he knows that he wants to be with her, someone’s going to have to pay the price.” 

Prompto sighed, shaking his head. “Can I get Chocobo back? I feel like I’m going to die, this isn’t okay...” He reached over for the rabbit who had no qualms about being passed around. “I really love this little guy.” 

“I’m so glad you named him Chocobo. That’s probably the best name for any animal out there.” Roxas chuckled. “Like... Chocobo... he might be laughed at in rabbit school, but we know he’s the coolest little guy out there.” 

“No one better be bullying our little Chocobo!” Demyx stood from his seat, nearly falling because he was sitting indian style in the massage-like chair. “Chocobo is our prized possession, and no other rabbits should be bullying him!” 

“Wow okay, can we move onto another topic? Kay, thanks.” Prompto shook his head quickly, covering Chocobo’s ears with his hand as best he could as he held the rabbit under one arm. “So um- Ventus, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How long have you been dating Terra?” 

“Funny story.” Ventus began chuckling, recalling the memory quite well. “In school, there were  _ 2 _ Terra's. One’s the guy that I’m dating, and the other is a really pretty green-haired girl, who’s incredibly sweet by the way. But we spell her name ‘T-E-R-A’ to not mix it up like we did then, but apparently she changed her name to ‘Tina’ because she likes the sound of that more. So, anyways, a friend of mine told me about how ‘Terra’ was really interested in me, and they found me attractive or whatever, and wanted to get to know me more. So I told him that whoever wants to talk to me with that name, they can talk to me at any time. But, my mistake was me not realizing that there were 2 Terra's in my classes, so... I went up to the female Terra, and told her that I was more than okay with going out with her, because I’m not picky with who I want to date, and she was like...  _ super _ repulsed that I said something like that to her, so she smacked me, and walked away. Then  _ my _ Terra comes up to me and goes ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that I was just going to be able to approach you and talk to you like this... I’m sorry that she smacked you like that.’ and ever since then Terra and I have been dating.” 

Completely entertained with how Ventus told his story, Prompto gave a big hearty laugh, amused at the rather playful blonde. “Out of all of us, I’d have to say that the twins are definitely the more serious of us.  _ But _ , they say some really weird shit.” 

Demyx agreed instantly, and Ventus shrugged, giving a cheeky grin. “That’s definitely true.” Roxas agreed, pulling his legs up on his spot on the couch so that he could sit indian style. “But we all know-” 

“Roxas is the most serious out of all of us.” The trio spoke in unison, teasing the blonde who gave a smug look. 

“Y’know it.” Roxas agreed, giving his family a playful grin. 

* * *

The next day wasn’t quite as eventful as Prompto had hoped. He made his way to his only class of the day, one of 3 classes he shares with Noctis, and sat in his usual seat. The class, honestly Prompto had no idea what the class was really about, he was just sure that they had computers and he was more than happy to get distracted with whatever happened on the internet. He usually relied on Noctis giving him the notes after the class, as he’d go to his next class, while the blonde would make his way back to his house, or he’d wait for the raven to get out of his second class of the day before walking with him to go pick up Roxas and Xion from their high school not too far away. 

Prompto pulled his hood over his head, playing with a blonde strand of hair that liked attacking his eye whenever it got the chance to do so. He was wearing a simple light grey sleeveless hoodie and a white short-sleeved shirt, black jeans with a little chain attached to his wallet in his back pocket, and his favorite tan boots. The blonde sighed, logging into the computer to start up a game that he’s used to playing in the class. Not too long after, he felt the heat from the raven coming to sit next to him, not even greeting him as he sat, logging into his own computer. 

Prompto looked over to the raven next to him, opening his mouth to greet the raven to make the air less awkward. “Don’t.” Noctis mumbled, not even glancing at his direction. “Just don’t say anything.” 

“At least you decided to talk to me.” Prompto mumbled, looking off at his own computer. “Are you just going to completely hate me? Or are we actually going to talk about what happened?” 

“I don’t hate you, Prompto, and I never will.” Noctis shook his head, glancing off to the blonde who was trying his best to hide his face. He could tell that the blonde was refraining from pouting, “I talked to Zack, about how to deal with social people like you. That and... I wanted to understand what you were asking me...” 

“No, don’t worry about it. I was just being moody, Noct.” Prompto sighed, “I’m really sorry about that outburst. I really shouldn’t have done it, and I  _ know _ that I shouldn’t have.” 

“Do you like me, Prompto?” Noctis questioned, reaching out to Prompto, pulling off the hood to see his hair in its entirety. “Is that why you were asking me about Luna? And that whenever I mention her, you look like I just killed a puppy?” 

“Noct, I-...” Prompto lowered his voice to a whisper, “I...” He began to chuckle awkwardly, giving the raven a sheepish smile as he replied somewhat  _ happier _ , “no way~! Y’know how I feel about Cindy, I thought you already knew that? I told you, didn’t I? You’re the only one I told about it~!” 

“Did you hurt your neck making that turn?” Noctis questioned, raising an eyebrow. 

“Wow, were you watching those weird shows again?” 

“I heard it when I was walking past Xions' room.” 

Prompto chuckled, “I don’t know what I like, honestly. I  _ don’t _ know if I want you, and I don’t know if I want Cindy,  _ or _ Aranea.”

“ _ She doesn’t want you _ .” Noctis whispered, shaking his head. “I’m glad though, that you at least have Cindy.” Prompto started to pout, displeased with that comment. “Honestly- I don’t think I’d be comfortable dating you, Prompto.” 

“I know.” Prompto stated, “I didn’t think you would. I thought it would be okay, though... that you know I have at least  _ some _ type of feelings for you.” 

“I think I’d be happier living without knowing that. I feel like that just complicates things for me, y’know?” 

“Why is it- what?” Prompto raised an eyebrow, leaning closer to the raven, “why would that be complicating anything? It shouldn’t complicate anything between us if you’re clearly madly in love with Luna... right?” He asked, squinting his eyes, “unless... you don’t  _ want _ to be with Luna?” 

“Did you know that Cloud found an engagement ring that Zack got for him? He wants to get married to him, but he’s not sure when to do it. He even told me that Cloud has serious commitment issues, so he doesn’t want to force anything on him until he’s ready.” 

“You’re trying to change the topic. You  _ don’t _ love Luna as much as you’re trying to say you do, is that it?” 

“You know, Zack mentioned someone named Squall, do you know them? He said he had a thing with Cloud for a while, and that the two of them weren’t always dating since their time in high school.” 

“Noct...” Prompto sighed, “I don’t want to know about them right now, I want to know about  _ you _ .” 

“Are we... friends again?” Noctis questioned, looking at the door, noticing the teacher who just walked in, setting up their computer for the class that was going to start within the next few minutes. “I want to know that... are we friends?” 

“Of course. You’re always going to be my best friend, Noct.” 

“Oh good, I don’t know what I would have done without you.” Noctis chuckled, “it’s not like I don’t have other people I can talk to or anything.” 

“Wow!” Prompto feigned disappointment, “if you want to have a new best friend, then... so be it... I’ll be your  _ new _ best friend.” 

“Wow you’re really clever.” Noctis teased, “we’re going to pick up the little ones after my other class?” 

“Of course, we can even take them out to eat before going home.” 

“Of course we can.” Noctis chuckled, shaking his head. “Sure, sure.” 

* * *

After their class, Prompto said a temporary goodbye to the raven who was practically asleep from boredom. Usually, on Mondays like this one, Prompto would go to the Chinese place to get a boba milk tea, then go around and meet with Demyx and Axel who were usually at a nearby park playing around on the swings, which is what he did today as well. Taking a sip from his drink and practically choking on a boba, he greeted the two who were swinging while having a somewhat deep conversation with each other. 

“Guys- Noctis and I are friends again.” 

“I’m glad yer like a little high school kid again, yo.” Axel mumbled, reaching for the cup in Prompto’s hand. 

Prompto shook his head, mainly because of that comment, “when’d you start sounding like Reno, Ax?” He teased, taking another sip of his drink. “How long have you been talking to him?” 

“I talk to him every day, thanks.” Axel chuckled, “I don’t know, I really like mimicking him, he always says ‘yo’ after everything, yo.” 

“Oh man, I would love for Cloud to say something really catchy at the end of his sentences.” Demyx chimed in, “imagine him saying something like ‘shabba-labba’ at the end of everything.” 

Prompto smiled at his brother, who suddenly went into a laughing fit repeating ‘shabba-labba’ to himself. “I don’t think that’s something we’d  _ ever _ even hear Cloud say, shabba-labba.” 

“AHA!” Demyx began laughing harder, “oh my god!  _ You _ said it! You said it!” 

“Shabba-labba ding-dong.” Axel added in. “Some nerds you are, shabba-labba.” 

“You’re a nerd too, shabba-labba.” Prompto teased. 

“Oh my god!” Demyx was now on the ground, practically crying about how much his stomach was starting to hurt, and that he found this way too funny and that he was completely shocked neither of them were laughing like he was. 

“So, you and Noct are friends again?” Axel asked for confirmation, leaving Demyx to recover from his laughter of pain. “I’m glad to hear that, actually. I was starting to think that something was going to happen and you were going to be crying or something.” 

“If we didn’t make up... I wouldn’t be here, I would have just been waiting outside the high school for Roxas, then I woulda just left, honestly.” 

“Roxas is old enough to go home by himself, dude.” Axel said with a bit of sass, “besides, you can just leave walking Roxas home to me, I’m more than happy to watch over him for you.” 

“Uh, no thanks bud.” Prompto shook his head, “I don’t want no College drop-out picking up my little cousin.” 

“I happen to really like your little cousin.” Axel stated, “but there’s two people that are constantly refusing to let me be with him.” 

“Me and who? Roxas?” 

“Yep!” 

Demyx chuckled, “Ventus is shipping those two like no tomorrow. He really wants it to happen, and Cloud really just doesn’t care, just as long as Roxas is happy with whomever he ends up with.” 

“What do you mean ‘ends up with’, Dem?” Axel questioned, “is Roxas interested in someone?” 

“Well, duh.” Demyx nodded, “who else do you think would catch Roxas’ attention?” He asked with a chuckle, “he likes men that are smart, and he likes green eyes.” 

“How do  _ you _ know that?” Prompto asked Demyx, who glanced over at him with a cheeky grin. 

“Well, y’know... Ventus and Roxas  _ are _ close to each other.” Demyx mumbled, “Roxas has a huge crush on... a cousin, actually.” 

“A cousin?!” Axel yelled, jumping from his swing. “Roxas is into a cousin?!”

“Apparently his type is silver hair and green eyes.” Demyx replied. 

“Riku.” Axel grumbled, shaking his head, “I can’t believe it. I’m losing Roxas to... Riku...” 

“Well... I mean, you never really had a chance with Roxas in the first place.” Demyx pointed out, “but apparently Sora also really likes Riku too, so... who knows how much longer those two are going to be friends before someone turns on the other to get Riku’s affection.” 

“It’s really going to suck.” Prompto mumbled, finishing the last of his drink, “you want the rest of the boba, Ax? If not, I’m gonna throw it away.” 

“When does Noct’s class end?” Axel questioned, reaching for the cup. Prompto handed off the cup before checking his phone to see the time. 

“In half an hour, so I should start making my way back so that we can go to the high school. You guys wanna come? It’d be fun seeing you try to get along with Roxas. Roxas’ll probably tell you to butt out, honestly.” 

“Y’know, I  _ can _ take care of Roxas, you just gotta put in a good word for me.” Axel mumbled, “honestly, I really want a chance to prove to you guys and Roxas that I  _ can _ be the man for him. It’s already a step in the right direction that he’s gay.” 

Prompto shook his head, giving the redhead a cheeky grin. “Whatever you say, ma’man.” 

* * *

Roxas stood, giving the raven and the brunette beside him quite a startle. Xion placed her arm on his shoulder, using him as a support while Sora adjusted his backpack. “You okay, little brat?” Xion asked, even though she was clearly the shortest out of the three. 

“Wow, who do you think you are?” Roxas questioned, tilting his head at the small girl, “did you forget the height difference?” 

“Wow, you’re such a jerk.” 

“Wow, I never expected you to tell me the truth.” 

“Wow, what a... a...” 

“Jerk?” Sora questioned, giving the blonde a silly smile. 

“You think I’m a jerk too? I’m actually  _ super _ nice to you, Sora.” Roxas questioned, feigning disappointment as he stared at his brunette friend. 

“Of course, and that’s because you  _ love _ me.” Sora grinned, “unless, you’ve been lying to me this whole time.” 

“Oh~ what a jerk.” Xion teased. 

“Oh man, Roxy, you’re going to just let these two brats harass you like this?” The trio looked up to see Prompto, Demyx, Axel, and Noctis all gathering around them. “Don’t let Xion take control of you.” 

“Xion’s not taking control of anyone.” Roxas mumbled, “why are there so many people today? What’s the special occasion?” 

“Do you know what day today is?” Prompto questioned, placing his hands on his hips, “do you remember the month?” 

“Oh my god- it’s August 19th! Cloud’s birthday is today!” Roxas practically jumped with glee, “did you buy something for him already? Or are you taking us to do that now?” 

“I already got Cloud a gift. I’m more worried about getting Noct something.” Prompto chuckled, “Dem, did you get anything?” 

“I’m  _ giving _ him an amazing gift. The gift of song.” Demyx playfully grinned, “he likes hearing me play music, after all.” 

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear.” Xion chimed, more than happy to always be able to hear Demyx playing his music professionally. “What type of song are you going to sing?” 

“He  _ really _ loves this one group, I can’t say what, but... he really loves it, and I love when he talks to me about the songs from them, so... I’ll be singing them for him later today.” Demyx tried to explain. 

“You two... you and Ax don’t go to college anymore, right?” Sora asked for confirmation. 

Axel nodded slowly, “yeah I-  _ we _ dropped out.” Axel gave a subtle frown when he heard Roxas scoff, “there’s nothing wrong with dropping out, man. College isn’t for everyone.” He tried to explain. 

“Yeah, well-” Roxas turned his attention to both Prompto and Noctis, “have you guys seen Riku lately? I know you don’t have class with him and all that, but have you seen him around at least?” 

“I saw him before I made it into my second class.” Noctis admitted after a moment of silence, “he looked fine, if that’s what you’re wondering about?” 

“Oh that’s a relief.” Both Sora and Roxas said in unison, sighing in relief. 

“Never again.” Axel shook his head, “never a-fucking-gain, yo.” 

“The Reno came out!” Xion pointed at the redhead, gasping in shock. “I never expected to hear that come from you!” 

“Can you-” Axel sighed, “shouldn’t we be like- walking or something?” 

“Right, right! Noctis is supposed to be treating us to food~!” Prompto grinned, pointing at his best friend, “we’re still on for that, right~?” 

“No? I didn’t think that there were going to be  _ so many _ of us.” Noctis made a disapproving face, “you could have at least told me that we could have been expecting a lot more people, or something. I thought it was just going to be the 4 of us.” 

“Well now there’s 7 of us.” Prompto smiled, “it’s not too bad.” 

“How about this.” Xion interrupted, “we go back to Cloud’s place, we wait for Cloud to finish doing whatever he’s probably doing. We take him out to eat, then we celebrate his birthday for the rest of the day.” 

“Or.” Noctis mumbled, “we go back to Cloud’s place, we make sure that Zack is able to take Cloud out to dinner, we wait for them to come back, then celebrate Cloud’s birthday for the rest of the night.” 

“You just want to sleep.” Xion and Prompto stated in unison, teasing the raven who scoffed quietly at the comment. 

“You’re not wrong.” 

“I think, after Zack takes Cloud out on his little date, we should invite some of  _ Cloud’s _ friends over to actually have a reasonable party.” Prompto suggested.

“Why didn’t we think of any of this before?!” Demyx questioned, “surely someone planned out some sort of party for that guy? Cloud needs some love in his life too, y’know!” 

Not too long after the conversation, the group made their ways into the Strife household, and almost instantly, Noctis took claim of one of the 2 loveseats that were placed against opposite walls, covering his curled up body with his jacket initially, but was soon gifted with a fluffy blanket from Prompto’s ‘room’. Roxas brought Xion and Sora up to his room, most likely to talk about school work until later on in the day. Axel and Demyx settled themselves down the loveseat opposite of where Noctis was taking a nap, and were talking about the song that Demyx was going to play for Cloud. Prompto sat on the main couch that was directly facing the television, so he got lazy, tossed his feet onto the small coffee table in the middle of the living room, and threw his arms over the edges of the couch, watching the T.V without any real purpose. 

After a long time of the T.V going off, and Demyx and Axel talking in the background, Prompto figured it was best to turn his attention to the duo that seemed to be planning out how the song would be played. Prompto instantly decided it was best to start asking questions. “So, how many songs are you going to be playing?” 

“I’m thinking 3.” Demyx mumbled, looking off at Axel for reassurance. “I know his 6 favorite songs, and I know the backstory behind all of them. The best part is that two are slow songs, and the rest are a bit faster, but kinda edgy, and they’re all from the same group.  _ And _ , they’re all pretty good songs, so I’m going to be playing the guitar while Axel plays the drums and gives the much needed backup vocals so that this can go as smoothly as possible.” 

“3 songs, huh. What songs are they?” 

“The group is  _ Fall Out Boy _ .” Demyx replied.

“Oh my god, Cloud is forever edgy.” 

“He has a good reason for it, and I’m sure he’ll really like this.” Demyx defended. 

The trio froze hearing footsteps slowly walking down the steps, they all turned to see the first and second oldest blondes of the house talking about different types of pies and why people hated them. Whilst Ventus was dressed in sweatpants and a random t-shirt, Cloud was dressed a bit more professionally. He reached up to check his ears, making sure his earring was still in place. “Cloud!” Demyx greeted, wide smile and all. “How are you?” 

Cloud shrugged, giving a quiet sigh as he ended his conversation with Ventus. “Well, I guess I’m doing alright.” He commented quite carelessly. 

“Where are you going?” Prompto questioned, pointing at his get-up.

“Zack. He called and said he was outside, but he wanted to take me to dinner as an apology, I guess.” Cloud mumbled, walking up to the couch. “Hopefully your days were a lot better. It’s a shock to see Axel here, what’s up?” 

Axel gave the blonde a subtle wave, “it’s  _ because _  I haven’t seen your pretty face in so long that I wanted to visit, but I didn’t know that you were going to go out with the sir. I’ll wait here till you get back?” 

“Sure, if you want to. Zack likes dragging me around the place.” Cloud shrugged once more, “it’s alright if you leave, honestly. It just seems like a lot of work to-” 

“It’s cool! I’ll wait here.” Axel chuckled, “if Zack’s outside, you should go.” He pointed to where the door was, “I’ll see you later, man.” 

“Yeah... say hi to Reno for me too.” Cloud mumbled, waving to the group as he went to put on his shoes. The group refused to say anything else until they heard Cloud close the door. Demyx looked out the small window by his seat, making sure that Zack successfully drove off before giving the signal that it was okay to talk. 

“So, Zack is taking Cloud out for 3 hours, which means that we have 3 hours to get all of Zack and Cloud’s friends here, plus some of our own, get a big cake, and set up your stage so that you can play music.” Ventus stated as he was mentally checking off all of the things on the checklist. “Lucky for you guys, since I don’t do shit with my life anymore, I made sure to ask the bakery nearby to make a 4 layer cake for us, and it should be ready to be picked up in half an hour. Terra and I are going to get that, you’re welcome. Also, I sent a text to Roxas earlier while I was talking to Cloud, and I told him to get to calling the friends, so that should be about halfway done if they weren’t goofing off. So the last thing that we need to worry about is making sure that your stage is set up for you to surprise and play music for the big baby.” 

“Honestly, I’m so glad that you don’t do anything with your life anymore, you have more time to actually be productive.” Prompto teased, “do you really not have a job or something?” 

“I have a job, I work with Terra.” Ventus admitted. 

“Doesn’t he have like, the same type of attitude as Terra now? They’re both super careless and bossy.” Axel pointed out in a teasing way, “it’s freaky.” 

“Super freaky.” Demyx agreed. 

Before Ventus could manage to defend himself, Roxas, Sora and Xion came running down the stairs, all in a huff from having to run down 3 flights of stairs. “Okay- guys..!” Roxas huffed, “I called everyone basically...” 

“We called Leon, Tifa, Aerith, Yuna, Rinoa, Luna, Lightning, Reno--” 

“We called a lot of damn people!” Xion interrupted Sora, who was going on about the list of people they called within the past half hour or so. “Everyone said that they’d be here, and we told them to make sure to get here before 3 hours are up, just in case Zack can’t stall Cloud long enough and all that.” 

“Wow, I’m still shocked Cloud actually has friends.” Axel chuckled. 

“Are you saying that my brother can’t have any friends just because of how he is? He’s actually a very social person, so you can f--” 

“Yeah, I’m shocked too.” Ventus interrupted Roxas, similarly to how Xion had done to Sora just a second ago. Roxas gave the other blonde a shocked expression, before he gave a subtle smile. 

“He’s super cute, I have to admit.” Roxas added in. 

“No one likes a grumpy Cloud.” Demyx chuckled, rubbing Axel’s back. “So, since you guys finished calling all that needs to be called, can you help me and Ax set up the living room for our  _ concert _ ?” 

“Um, Prompto, Sora, and Xion, come with me. Help me figure out where to put this cake, I want to go up to the kitchen first to check it out.” Ventus reached for his fellow blonde family member, guiding them up the steps. 

“Wait- what about me?” Roxas questioned, turning to watch his almost-twin continue to walk up the steps. 

“Help them move Noctis!” Ventus called after reaching the top of the steps. “We’re busy.” 

Roxas groaned, rolling his eyes as he made his way into the large living room, placing his hands on his hips as he stood in front of where Noctis was taking his ever-so-peaceful nap. “Okay, I guess I’m the one that’s going to be helping.” 

Demyx gave Axel an awkward look before standing up from his spot, “okay? Um... I guess just moving that couch back a bit, we can move the little table into the dining room over there... there’s a lot of space so... we don’t need to worry about the side couches, I don’t think.” 

“Shouldn’t we have it so that Cloud is in the middle? Or is that too much?” Axel questioned, raising an eyebrow. “We’d be back here by the TV, there’s a lot of space between here and that back wall close to the dining room. But I want to make sure that Cloud’s still super comfortable, and most likely sitting with Zack. So then everyone else would be surrounding them and us, right?” 

“I see what you’re getting at, yeah, that makes sense. We’d need a lot more seats though.” Demyx went to start rubbing his chin, “Okay, I think we should switch the loveseat and this 3-seater, then we’ll find some other chairs and such for everyone else. The dining room chairs are pretty comfortable.”

“I’m thinking... bean-bag chairs in the front and the sides over here.” Axel added, pointing off in several directions, “we’d need a lot more chairs though, I don’t think that’ll quite fit it.” 

“We only have but so much space, and I don’t want to make it hard for them to move the cake around.” Demyx mumbled, “some people might just end up having to stand or sit on the ground--”

“That’s why I’m saying that we need to get some bean-bag chairs man.” 

“Um... what can I do to help?” Roxas asked, glancing back at Noctis, who turned in his sleep to get a bit more comfortable. “I’m alright with going out to buy some bean-bag cha--” 

“Nah, we got it, yo.” Axel waved a dismissive hand, treating Roxas the same way he’s been treated. “You go play with the rabbit or something, we’ll handle this.” 

“I’m not useless.” Roxas mumbled. 

“And we’re not stupid.” Axel retorted. “Go do something else, we don’t need you.” 

Roxas rolled his eyes, figuring it was best to find something else to do while those two did all of the “ _ heavy lifting _ ” he went to pay attention to Chocobo, who was in the basement, or Ventus’ room for safety during the day. Chocobo was happily running around the room, nibbling on a carrot he had stuffed in his mouth for god knows how long. 

“At least you’re not an ass.” Roxas mumbled, sitting on the ground to watch the rabbit jump over to him to give him a subtle amount of affection. 

* * *

Not even an hour and a half later, the first floor was set up for the party of a lifetime. Demyx and Axel were talking to each other happily while Axel was finally setting up the rest of his drum set. The blonde couldn’t stop chuckling or laughing at some of the things Axel would tell him, and once Roxas took notice of this, he scoffed with irritation. Noctis quickly caught on to the irritation that the blonde was giving to his cousin and the friend, and decided it was best to finally start a conversation about those two.

“Rox?” Noctis whispered the moment he was close enough to the blonde who was staring off in anger. Upon hearing his name, Roxas jumped, turning to see the culprit. “If you don’t like them, you shouldn’t stare at them.” 

“I  _ love _ Dem, Noct. But Axel? I wish he was never here.” Roxas stated, glaring off at the redhead who sat on a small stool behind the biggest drum, checking to see if the height was proper. 

“Why?” Noctis questioned, “doesn’t he like you? Or something weird like that?” 

“I don’t see why. He’s...” 

“If it has to do with him being a dropout, do you not realize how successful they’ve actually been since they  _ dropped out _ of college? Axel and Demyx are both really smart, if you didn’t know. Just because they’re not in college doesn’t mean anything, I know you know that.” Noctis tried to explain to the blonde who shook his head in disagreement, “well, did you know that Riku was dropping out of college too? He’d rather work at the  _ 7th Heaven Bar _ , than go to college anymore.” 

“Wait- what?!” Roxas gasped, looking around the room to try and find the silver haired man who showed for the party an hour or so ago. He disappeared off with Sora, and since then, Roxas hadn’t been able to find either one of them. “That greasy pig of a-” 

“Honestly, I don’t think Riku is the type of person for you anyways.” Noctis shrugged, “but I’m new to this relationship thing, I don’t know what I want either.” 

Roxas sighed, “I didn’t know that Riku was going to drop out. Why would he do that? He’s so smart-” 

“So is Axel and Demyx. You don’t have to be in college to be smart.” Noctis pointed out, “I’m just going because Zack doesn’t want me sleeping in the house all day.” He sighed heavily, looking at the couch, “he won’t even take me out to go fishing... what am I supposed to do...?” He said with a new tone of voice that Roxas wasn’t used to hearing from the older male. The blonde could only blink as Noctis stared longingly at the couch, like it was long lost love and he wasn’t able to reach it. 

“Just go to sleep.” Roxas mumbled, pushing Noctis towards the couch so he could use the time to get away and find someone else to talk to to get his mind off of the whole Demyx and Axel thing. Roxas turned his attention to another silverette that he was fond of, Hope. Though it took quite a bit of time for Hope to finally warm up to him, they were able to hold quite interesting conversations in the spur of the moment. Hope was definitely a lot kinder than Roxas was when it came to meeting new people, but he was also a lot quieter. “Hope, what do you think about people that dropout of college? Do you think they’re stupid or do they--” 

Hope put a hand up, interrupting the blonde who wanted a proper reasoning. The silverette looked up to him as he slowly sat down in one of the randomly placed chairs, “do I think college dropouts are stupid? No? Why would they be?” 

“What about the ones that fail out?” 

“No?” Hope raised an eyebrow, lifting his legs so that one was folded under the other, he used the folded leg to make himself seem higher on the chair. “Honestly, I think that anyone who makes it to college is smart in their own way. That  _ or _ they just have the money.” 

Roxas sighed, sitting in the chair next to the silverette who was playing with his pant string. “You and Noctis think the same thing. I don’t get it, I thought you’d be on my side?” 

“Are you trying to tell me that college dropouts should be idiots?” 

“Why  _ else _ would they drop out?” 

“Um, priorities, maybe? College isn’t for everyone, after all. People probably decided to chase their dreams in different ways, or they just weren’t able to afford it, or they found something better to do with their lives. It has nothing to do with their intelligence.” Hope gave a questioning look to Roxas, who could only sigh in response. “There’s no way. Did you really believe that? You genuinely believed that college dropouts were idiots.” 

“I guess.” 

“Why would you think that?” 

“Axel.” 

Hope glanced over to where Demyx and Axel were practicing their songs, finalizing their mic checks and making sure that everyone was as loud as it needed to be. “Well, if this makes you feel like a terrible person... Axel helped me with a lot of my homework this semester. I used to rely on Snow, but Axel’s... a lot smarter.” 

“No way-”

“Yeah, way.” Hope nodded, “he’s pretty damn smart. He’s also working on writing, with Terra, actually. Have you ever read the story that Terra’s been working on as of late? The cover art’s already done, by the way. By Axel. Axel’s writing the second half of the story, and he’s been helping Terra keep on track.” 

“I thought Ven was-” 

“Ven makes sure that Terra actually  _ does _ it.” Hope clarified, “It’s a three-man job with that.”   

Roxas looked over for his sibling who seemed to be caught up in talking to some of his and Cloud’s friends. One of which he instantly recognized to be Leon, and another being Tifa. He caught a glimpse of pink, and instantly assumed Aerith or Tera, now officially renamed Tina, was in their conversation. He looked off to another side, closer to where the dining room was, taking note of Snow, who seemed to be trying his best to flirt with Serah while Lighting was giving him an irritated look. 

They brought a man named Noel, who seemed to be really close with Fang and Vanille, so Roxas didn’t really care about him being there, as long as they kept an eye on him. They were rather close to Sazh, who was holding onto his son, Dajh, who’s probably around 15 or 16 at this point, because the blonde heard he was in high school and already making great friends or something of that sort. 

Roxas chose to turn his attention elsewhere, looking off to where he recalled seeing the prince who wanted to get snuggly with the couch. Noctis was now talking to Prompto, while Iris was trying her best to hold onto his hand, they made use of the three-seat couch, letting Noctis sit in the middle while Iris was trying to do her thing. Somehow, he caught the attention of some other friends of his, Gladio and Ignis, and they stood nearby talking to him, making occasional jokes with each other from what Roxas could assume from the amount of times he saw Prompto smile from something that Gladio said to Noctis, and so forth. 

Not too far from them was the Nox Fleuret family standing in a circle just about, though there were chairs all around them they chose to stand. Luna, Stella, and Ravus seemed to be having quite a peaceful conversation, and Roxas recalled them bringing Pryna and Umbra to go into the basement to play with Chocobo, and he made a mental note to check on the rabbit to make sure it was still alive with the two dogs surrounding him. 

“Sora’s brother didn’t come, did he?” Hope asked suddenly, startling the blonde. “I’m shocked you didn’t invite your other friends.” 

“Hayner, Pence, and Olette? I thought about it, but... this is for Cloud, not for me.” Roxas mumbled, “and yeah... Sora told me that Vanitas didn’t want to come for a lot of different reasons. But mainly because he didn’t care.” 

“I see...” 

“Guys!” Everyone stopped talking, and in the matter of seconds, the living room was filled with a pregnant silence, trying to figure out who the source of the voice was. Ventus raised his phone up in the air, moving to a spot where he could easily be seen. “Zack says that they’re not too far away. Like, they’re about to be on the block.” 

“Is Zack texting while he’s driving? Is he trying to kill the guy?” Leon asked instinctively. 

“Zack’s the only one that could really tell us that he was on his way.” Tifa mumbled in response, “Prompto, keep an eye on the window, let's turn out the lights and wait!” 

Quickly, everyone got into their places, and once Prompto called that Zack parked the car, they all sat in silence, waiting to surprise the birthday boy. After another few seconds of silence, the key went into the door, the door unlocked, and the lights were turned on after an incoherent question. 

“SURPRISE!” Everyone jumped out of their hiding spots, practically giving Cloud a heart attack as he yelled “ _ Fuck! _ ” and grabbed onto Zack for support. They could hear Zack chuckle as he turned the blonde around while whispering something in his ear. 

“Happy 21st birthday, big bro!” Ventus yelled, running up to give the blonde a hug, “we really planned out this day for you, and I really hope you had a fun time with Zack.” 

Cloud gave a sheepish smile, hugging his little brother. “I did, I had a lot of fun.” 

“Great, because you’re about to have a lot more fun!” Ventus grinned, pulling him and Zack to the couch in the middle of the living room. “Birthday boy and his boyfriend gets front row seats to Demyx and Axel’s show~!” 

“Oh, music? Is that the surprise?” Zack questioned, watching Ventus run behind the couch. “What type of music?” 

“Cloud’s favorites.” Demyx grinned, “personally, it was a lot of fun to learn, so... I hope you like it?” 

“Oh my god.” Cloud whispered, “are you really-” 

“I chose 3 of the ones that you told me about, and...  _ Fall Out Boy  _ is an original group, y’know? They’re great, and they’re practically a classic.” Demyx explained, pulling his guitar strap over his shoulder to make sure it was on comfortably. “Are you ready?” He asked Cloud, who took off his shoes and pulled his feet up onto the couch, leaning onto Zack as everyone waited patiently to hear the two musicians make some magic. 

“Whenever you are.” Cloud nodded. 

“This one’s called ' _ Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes' _ .” 

The name of the song received some chuckles, but quieted down once they heard Axel start off the song. 

“ _ I’m coming apart at the seams,  _

_ Pinching myself for leads in other people’s dreams,  _

_ Now, Buzz, buzz, buzz.  _

_ Doc, there’s a hole where something was,  _

_ Doc there’s a hole where something was. _ ” Demyx took a deep breath as the music started to pick up, he prepared himself to sing. 

_ “Fell out of bed,  _

_ Butterfly bandage, but don’t worry.  _

_ You’ll never remember, your head is far too blurry. _

_ Put him in the back of a squad car, restrain that man he needs his head put through a cat scan. _

_ Hey editor, I’m undeniable.  _

_ Hey doctor I’m certifiable, oh!”  _ Axel prepared himself to sing the next few lines, and like that, they continued to switch off. 

“ _ I’m a loose bolt, of a complete machine, _

_ What a match! I’m half doomed, and you’re semi sweet! _ ”

“ _ So boycott love! Detox just to retox! _

_ And I promise you anything but another shot at life!”  _

_ “Imperfect boys with their perfect lives!”  _

_ “Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy!”  _ Axel sung the backup vocals, repeating ‘ _ hear you sing about tragedy _ ’, and confidently, Demyx smiled while he continued to play his guitar. Axel then took the next set of lines with a playful smile of his own. 

“ _ Little girl, you got me staring odd.  _

_ Oh, or was that just that a telescopic camera nod~? _ ” 

“ _ Painted dolls in highway truck stop stalls, _

_ Lot-lizard scales to deny my rules. _

_ All the rookies leave your badge and your gun on the desk when you leave the room. _ ” 

“ _ I’m a loose bolt, of a complete machine,  _

_ What a match! I’m half doomed and you’re semi sweet! _ ” Axel let his smile grow as he held a few of the notes, he was keeping the beat going fairly well, and he was happy to see that Cloud was also enjoying it, singing along with the lyrics while he clapped slowly in unison with Zack. 

Demyx smiled as he sung his favorite lines of the song, it was his turn to take over the chorus, “ _ Boycott love! Detox just to retox! _

_ And I promise you anything but another shot at life!  _

_ Imperfect boys with their perfect lives! _

_ Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy!”  _ Everyone started clapping when they heard Axel holding his note for as long as he did, and some even began to sing along with the rest of the song. Demyx was refraining from chuckling so that he could sound decent enough to finish. 

_ “Detox just to retox! _

_ Detox just to retox!”  _

While everyone was chanting those words, Demyx and Axel both sung,  _ “So boycott love!”  _

_ “Boycott love! Detox just to retox! _

_ And I promise you anything but another shot at life! _

_ Imperfect boys with their perfect lives! _

_ Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy! _

_ Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy!” _ With Demyx and Axel finishing together, the large group of people clapped and cheered loudly, with Cloud trying his best to refrain from smiling as much as he wanted to, but in his place, Zack did it for him. 

“I didn’t think it was going to be a group effort.” Demyx chuckled, referencing the moment everyone started to sing with them, “I’m guessing you guys are ready for the second one?” With all positive cheers, Demyx cleared his throat. “Well- this one is called ‘ _ From Now on we are Enemies’ _ .”

There was a small pause before Axel and Demyx started to play their instruments, with Axel starting off the song once more. 

_ “I just want to be better than your,  _

_ Your head’s only medicine.  _

_ I just want to be better than your,  _

_ Your head’s only medicine.” _

_ “A downward spiral, just a pirouette.  _

_ Getting worse til there’s nothing left,  _

_ What good comes from something when I’m just a ghost of nothing? _

_ Nothing?”  _

_ “I’m just a man on a balcony saying _

_ ‘Nobody will ever remember me’.”  _

_ “Rejoice, rejoice, and fall to your knees.”  _

_ “Lunatic of a god? Or a God of a lunatic? _

_ Oh their faces are dancing, they’re dancing til, til they can’t stand it!” _

_ “A composer but never composed, singing the symphonies of the overdosed,  _

_ A composer but never composed, singing-”  _

_ “I only want what I can’t have, I only want what I can’t have!”  _

_ “Herald as a king before I had a birthday _

_ With double digits. _

_ Fit the crown to my head but I was only a kid _

_ Yeah I was only a kid!” _

_ “I’m just a man on the balcony saying  _

_ ‘Nobody will ever remember me’.  _

_ Rejoice, rejoice, and fall to your knees.”  _

_ “Lunatic of a God? Or a God of a lunatic?  _

_ Oh their faces are dancing, they’re dancing til, til they can’t stand it! _

_ A composer but never composed, singing the symphonies of the overdosed!”  _

_ “A composer but never composed, singing-” _

_ “I only want what I can’t have, I only want what I can’t have! I only want what I can’t have!  _

_ I only want what I can’t, I can’t have!” _

_ “I just want to be better than your, your head’s only medicine. _

_ I just want to be better than your, your head’s only medicine.”  _ The two of them stopped playing their instruments momentarily, and Demyx started to clap. He and Axel started singing the next few lines together. 

_ “I’m just a man on a balcony, singing  _

_ ‘Nobody will ever remember me’.  _

_ Rejoice, rejoice and fall to your knees.”  _ They repeated the lyrics once more, while Axel was singing in a slightly more soulful way, hitting more notes while Demyx was staying true to the lyrics. The duo stopped clapping, instantly playing their instruments again, while Axel picked up singing the next lines. 

_ “Lunatic of a God? Or a God of a lunatic?  _

_ Oh their faces are dancing, they’re dancing til, til they can’t stand it! _

_ A composer but never composed, singing the symphonies of the overdosed! _

_ A composer but never composed, singing-”  _

_ “I only want what I can’t have! I only want what I can’t have! I only want what I can’t have! _

_ I only want what I can’t- I can’t have!”  _ Demyx finished off, giving a big huff of relief as they finished. He was completely excited seeing Cloud smiling as much as he was today, and it was probably going to be the most he’d be smiling all week, god knows yet. There was another full round of applause, and Demyx decided to ask Cloud a question. “Hey- Cloud! Do you know what the last song is going to be?” 

Cloud took a moment to think about all of the possibilities, “Is it.. um..” He thought for a moment more, before figuring out an answer. “Well, I’m guessing it would be one of the slightly slower ones, so...-” 

Demyx grinned, playing the intro of the song, “' _ The Shipped Gold Standard' _ . It’s about to get a bit more meaningful in here.” He looked back at Axel, who gave a nod to him, signalling that he was ready. “Are you ready?” Cloud nodded, hearing the tone of the beat change as Axel joined in. Demyx grinned as he started the song off.  _ “Sometimes I wanna quit this all and become an accountant now.  _

_ But I’m no good at math and besides, the dollar is down.  _

_ Plant palm trees on lake Michigan before it gets cold _

_ I gotta feel the wind chill again before I get old.” _

_ “I wanna scream "I love you" from the top of my lungs.  _

_ But I’m afraid that someone else will hear me.”  _

_ “You can only blame your problems on the world for so long _

_ Before it all becomes the same old song.”  _

_ “As soon as we hit the hospital I know we’re going to leave this town.” _

_ “And get new passports and get, get, get, get, get out now!”  _

_ “All the yes men said no comment,  _

_ My mouth got going the wrong way and all the calls started snowing. _

_ The time my dad caught me a horseshoe crab, _

_ And I asked him if throwing it back into the sea would bring our luck back.” _

_ “I wanna scream I love you from the top of my lungs.  _

_ But I’m afraid that someone else will hear me.”  _

_ “You can only blame your problems on the world for so long, _

_ Before it all becomes the same old song.”  _

_ “As soon as we hit the hospital I know we’re going to leave this town,  _

_ And get new passports, get out now.”  _

_ “Tell that boy I’ll leave you alone,  _

_ Like a stove,  _ _ I’ll turn my love down, _

_ The Supra and the Prophet are both in the business of souls.” _ Everyone clapped and cheered at another of Axel’s impressively held notes. 

_ “I wanna scream I love you from the top of my lungs,  _

_ But I’m afraid that someone else will hear me. _

_ Woah-oh!”  _

_ “I wanna scream I love you from the top of my lungs,  _

_ But I’m afraid that someone else will hear me!”  _ The boys then prepared to sing in unison for the last bit, with Axel hitting the high notes and backup vocals, and Demyx singing cheerfully with Cloud following in tune. 

_ “You can only blame your problems on the world for so long,  _

_ Before it all becomes the same old song! _

_ Soon as we hit the hospital, I know we’re going to leave this town, _

_ And get new passports and get, get, get, get, get out- _

_ Get, get, get, get, get out now! _ ” With heavy breath, the duo smiled at all of the praise and happiness coming from not only the birthday boy, but from everyone in the room. 

“Thank you!” Demyx smiled, trying his best to laugh while catching his breath, “this takes so much out of us!” 

“It was amazing, really.” Cloud commented, earning a supporting nod from Zack. “I really enjoyed it, thank you.” 

“Hey man, we love you, that’s unconditional.” Axel pointed out, placing down his drum sticks. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” 

“I’m really satisfied, seeing everyone here like this. I didn’t think I’d ever see so many of you guys in one place with me... it’s really cool.” Cloud spoke, looking around the living room at every single person who came to wish him a happy birthday. 

“All of these people love you, Spike.” Zack whispered, “You’re more special than you think, and you’ve made a lot more friends than you think over the years.” 

“Definitely.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave Roxas a similar type of personality to a friend of mine who was really adamant of thinking that college = you're extremely smart and if you finish all 4 years you're amazing. My friend found out though that though that their own brother stopped after a year and he's a smart kiddo. But yeah, it's ok, Roxas'll learn. 
> 
> I try to give good explanations of how each of their houses look since they're so vastly different, and so you can get a sense of what they look like. But I'm also super bad at explaining what they look like so work with me and it'll be okay. 
> 
> There's a few other birthdays that have their moments but the next chapter's free of that so you guys should be okay!


	3. I Wanna Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel and Kairi strut their stuff and give you their side of the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW all of these houses that I'm describing are just really bad descriptions of houses that I've either lived in, visited, or had friends that lived in. 
> 
> I'm just grossly bad at explainin' them.

A few hours into Cloud’s birthday party, everyone had freshly eaten from the highly detailed 4 layer cake picked out by Ventus and Zack, but picked up by Ventus and Terra. It was up to the guests to choose to leave the house whenever they saw fit, and with some hearty goodbyes to the blonde, the house progressively became more spacious.

Axel sighed, placing his drum set in the corner of the living room. He and Demyx were willingly readjusting the living room back to it’s usual placement, save for the large amount of beanbag chairs and the few dining room chairs that were still placed randomly in the room. Both he and Demyx were constantly receiving large amounts of compliments on how their singing voices were amazing, and they were happy to hear a live performance of such a classic group.

“Well, that was really fun.” Demyx grinned at the redhead, who went to stretch after moving the couch back to it’s right place. It was immediately occupied by Noctis, who insisted that he wanted to take a nap until Zack was ready to leave.

“Yeah, I’m glad we did the warm-ups before actually singing, I probably wasn’t going to be able to hit the notes that I did without it.” Axel chuckled, thinking back on their warm-up session. “Today was fun, dude. I’m glad we got to do this together.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Demyx questioned, raising his eyebrow.

“We’re not making a band, Dem.” Axel shook his head, “you know I have a lot of things on my plate right now.”

“Well- I mean... if we can hit it off big with the band, you wouldn’t need to work the jobs that you do, _and_ , you’d still have time to help Terra and help out at Tifa’s place whenever you _really_ need the extra cash.” Demyx tried to reason with the redhead who continued to shake his head.

“Dem, no.” Axel declined, “I love this as much as you do, but I _can’t_.”

“What can’t you do?” The duo froze hearing Roxas’ voice ring through their ears. They turned their attention to the smaller boy who had his hands on his hips. “That was a cool performance, by the way. But I don’t see why you can’t just be in a band with Dem, Axel.”

“It’s not that simple.” Axel shrugged, “you wouldn’t understand anyways.” He turned his attention to Demyx, “I gotta go grab Kai so we can go home. Take care of yourself Dem.” He said as his final words, retreating into the small crowd of people to find his little sister.

Roxas looked over to Demyx curiously, with the older blonde knowing he wanted answers. “He’s... working a few jobs currently, one with Tifa, another with Aerith. There’s the job he has with Terra, doing the artwork and the second half of the book, which he’s been working on a lot lately so that he could finish... and he’s on call for the same job that Reno’s got, and there’s some other things that he doesn’t tell me about, but... Axel really works his ass off, and it _sucks_... I’d love to be able to spend more time with him just to make music and play it like this.”

“He seems to have enough time to sit there and gawk at me whenever I’m around.”

“Sue the guy for wanting just a _bit_ of romance. He hasn’t really loved dating someone since high school man. His last relationship was with a friend!” Demyx tried to defend his good friend, “and that didn’t end up too well, because they don’t talk anymore.”

“Who did he go out with? It was probably his fault.” Roxas scoffed.

“Riku.” Demyx gave a playful look to the blonde who looked shocked hearing that name, “you forget they’re almost the same age?”

“Why is Axel working so much in the first place? I don’t get why he’d be so busy.”

“Well we still went through the first year for College, so we _do_ have loans, and... unlike me, Axel didn’t have any type of scholarship, so he wants to pay off that money as soon as possible so that he can live his life happily.”

“That’s-...” Roxas stood in thought, taking in what Demyx was explaining to him, “that’s... really reasonable...”

“Axel knows what he’s doing, Rox. You’re the one that never wanted to give him a chance.”

* * *

“You ready?” Axel questioned, pulling his arms through the sleeves of his jacket. He looked off to Kairi who was stuffing an extra few slices of cake into a small container for Reno. The older redhead looked at his little sister, completely entertained with her turning her full attention to trying to feed their oldest sibling, even though he’s hardly ever in the house. “Kai?” Axel called after a moment of silence, she was way too focused on trying to figure out what type of food to stash away for Reno, that she almost didn’t hear Axel calling her for a second time. “Kai...”

“Yes?” Kairi turned to look at Axel, her eyebrows raised high as she placed the food containers into a small bag to carry back to their place. “What’s up?”

“Are you ready to go?” Axel asked again.

“Yeah-! Let me say bye to my friends first, then I’ll be all ready to go. Wait for me by the front door, ‘kay?”

“Y-yeah. Sure...” Axel nodded slowly, watching Kairi run down the stairs to go and see her friends who were most likely playing with the animals in Ventus’ room. He made his way to the front door, shoving his hands into his pockets while leaning onto the closest wall. He sighed quietly, patiently waiting for his sister to come back so that they could finally leave. He had already said his goodbye to Cloud and the rest of the Strife family, save for Roxas who refused to even look his way while he was saying goodbye to the others.

After what felt like forever, Axel was approached by the blonde he was hoping he wouldn’t have to talk to, and was in desperate need for his sister to finally come back to him. “Hey.” Roxas mumbled, trying his best to sound uninterested though he was the one that approached the redhead this time around.

“Uh, hey.” Axel replied quietly. He didn’t know why the blonde decided to even talk to him, so he figured it was best to just strike up a conversation of some sort. “What’s... up?” He asked after a moment of silence.

“Nothing.” Roxas shrugged, looking off into a direction. They stood like this for a good 5 or 10 minutes, before Axel gave a hefty sigh of disappointment.

“What do you want, Roxas?” Axel mumbled, “why are you here?”

“I can’t stand here? This is my house.” Roxas replied rather quickly.

“What do you want?” Axel repeated, “if you’re not going to say anything to me, then go away.”

Roxas sighed, “I heard- about all of the work and stuff that you do. I heard from Dem.”

“Really? That’s great.” Axel mumbled in a sarcastic tone. “Wonderful. Magnificent.”

“Look- I’m sorry, alright?” Roxas tried his best to make eye contact with the taller man, “I didn’t know that you had so much going on with your life. So... I’m sorry, okay?”

“Sure.” Axel shrugged. “I’m really not bothered with your judgement. I’d fight for you to fall for me but that’s just a waste of time, especially since you’re interested in Riku. So uh, yeah. You can have all of that, I’ll find someone else.”

“Wait- how the hell can you just tell me that you’re just going to give up on being in love with me because you know that I like someone else? Isn’t that just going to tell me that you just have no feelings for me at all? You’re going to give up just like that?”

Axel shook his head, “I never said that I was going to give up on you. I never said that I never had feelings for you. I’m just not going to fight for you, if you like someone else, then that’s all you. You do you.” He turned his attention elsewhere, noticing his little sister coming up the steps after saying her last goodbyes to someone he couldn’t quite see. “Now, if you don’t mind, I gotta go. Enjoy the rest of your night, Roxas.” He mumbled, opening the door to signal to his little sister that it was time to go.

Kairi started to jog towards Roxas, giving him a happy smile, “take care Rox!”

“Um... y-yeah. Take care, Kai.” Roxas gave a small smile to the girl as he waved, closing the door behind the duo. “Urgh...”

* * *

“So what were you talking about to Roxas?” Kairi asked as she zipped up her jacket to keep warm while trying to make sure the small bag wouldn’t hit her stomach as she was pulling the zipper. “I heard that you two were just silent for a little while.”

“How did you even hear that?” Axel questioned, “no one was even around us, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well, you’re concerned wrong.” Kairi mocked her brother, but started making a face at her own statement she made.

“Well that doesn’t even make sense.” Axel replied before she could try to defend her comment. “I’m guessing that’s all Reno’s food?” He asked, pointing at the bag that she was playfully swinging around.

“Nope, there’s some stuff in here for you and me. I’m no _monster_ , Axel.”

“Yeah you are.” Axel teased, poking her neck, “you’re a damn troll too.”

“Wow, abuse?” Kairi asked, smacking his hand away, “by the way, are you trying to hit on Roxas? Are you trying to date him? It’d be weird right? Wanting to date someone that’s _my_ age.”

“You’re like 2 years younger than me, stupid.” Axel shrugged, “and I’m not trying to date him, not anymore. He’s interested in Riku.”

“Oh, yikes. He likes your ex?”

“Sucks to suck. Riku likes Sora anyways. He just hasn’t had the time to come around to talk to Sora, but when he does- oh boy. Roxas is gonna get a kick to the face with how that guy feels about his good friend.”

“Oh so you’re plannin’ to have Roxas have his heart broken by Riku so that you could pick up the pieces and flirt with him yet again?”

“Well... yes and no.” Axel sighed, trying to think of his real plan as he unlocked the front door for his little sister to enter their home, “I don’t want Roxas to be heartbroken, but... I just want him to get over this silly little crush that he has with Riku.”

“Well, I dunno, Ax.” Kairi mumbled quietly, “it’s hard for Roxas to fall for people. 100 people could fall for him, and he still would never fall for any of them. He’s not really easy-”

“That’s fine. Honestly... what I’m looking for is just for someone who’s willing to be by my side and act as a guide, I guess? If it’s someone that I really like, it’ll help me focus more when I’m doing work.”

“You want an assistant? Like how Ventus is to Terra?”

“No- not really, no. But that would be nice.” Axel shrugged. “It’s whatever, Kai. Go ahead and do what you gotta do, I got some work to do for the night-”

“How long are you going to be working tonight? I want you to drive me somewhere tomorrow.”

“Drive yourself.” Axel scoffed, making his way up the stairs. “I probably won’t wake up when you need me.”

“I’m scared of driving!” Kairi yelled, chasing after her brother, “I’m terrified of driving! Please, drive me!”

“Maybe. You might have to drive yourself though if Reno doesn’t come back tonight.”

Kairi grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she prepared herself to yell once more. “Axel! You gotta drive me!”

“Phone a friend!” Axel yelled from what could have presumably been his room. Kairi sighed heavily, completely disappointed with how much he’s been working as of late. She went into the kitchen which was rather close to the wall with their stairs.

The Fujiwara household was a lot smaller than most of their friends houses, mainly because it was bought with the intention of holding just 3 people. From the front door, immediately to the left was the staircase, and the open space in that area was the living room. Connecting the living room to the dining room was an arch-way that was designed with little pictures of the three siblings of the household. The dining room was also connected to the kitchen with an open walk-in space, as well as the basement, who’s stairs were under the first flight of stairs going up.

On the top floor was the one bathroom directly across from the stairs, and next to that was the master bedroom which was Reno’s room. Next to that was Axel’s room, and on the opposing wall from the bathroom and somewhat behind the staircase was Kairi’s room. In the basement was just another simple couch and TV for whenever either Kairi or Axel decided to have their friends. Kairi usually spent most of her time in the basement, not even with her friends, but just to be in the basement and have fun on her own.

Kairi took the time to place the food into the fridge before running upstairs to her own room.

* * *

The next morning, Kairi groaned as she went to do her daily routine, shower, brush her teeth, eat and check to see if either of her siblings were either awake or there so that she could talk to them. The main reason why she wanted to get Axel to drive her around today was because of Noctis, who’s a good friend of his. She promised Xion that she’d go out today and buy something nice and small for the raven who’s birthday was coming up soon, but it didn’t seem like Axel was willing to drive her anywhere today. Kairi walked around the first floor of their home, looking for an unusual note of some sort that was usually either placed on the front door or on their fridge. She spotted a familiar sticky-note stuck to the microwave that she was shocked she hadn’t seen before from when she went to get something to eat.

‘ _I’m going to be out today, gotta work at Aerith’s then at Tifa’s tonight. Stay safe today~ Ax_ ’

Kairi groaned loudly, practically yelling as she stormed down the steps to get her keys for her car. Axel usually parked in the front of the house, and Reno would usually park in the back of the house. Their backyard was big enough to fit both Reno and Kairi’s cars, but usually Reno’s car was never there, so it was just Kairi’s taking up most of the space. She was completely disappointed to see that Reno hadn’t come back for the night, so she figured it was time to finally get used to driving, pick up Namine, Rikku, and Serah, then go and search for a suitable present for the princely boy.

Rikku was a good friend of Kairi and Namine, and she was actually the one that introduced them to Yuffie, and she’s always had dreams of being a ninja, which is most likely the reason she became so close to Yuffie. Serah on the other hand is the little sister of Lightning, who’s the love interest of Snow and good friend of Hope. She’s usually quiet but she speaks up when she knows the answers of things, and she’s just about the same age as Noctis. She was also responsible for introducing Yeul, Hope and Noel to the main group of friends.

Half an hour and a car filled with excited girls later, Kairi brought the girls to a jewelry store, with the intention of buying a really expensive watch for the raven. Serah and Rikku were looking at extravagant necklaces, while Kairi and Namine looked more into the real gift. They looked between a large amount of different brands of watches.

“Are you sure he’s going to want a watch?” Namine asked the redhead who was examining each watch closely. “I think he’s more of a ring type of person... He seems like he’s really simple and reasonable so....”

“Noct actually told Xion that she doesn’t have to buy anything for him, because he doesn’t really need anything.” Kairi mumbled, “but.. really. We have to think of something that we know Noct would really wear.”

Serah and Rikku ran over to the duo, admitting that neither of them were able to find something that really fit Noctis, and were more than willing to try to search elsewhere for something better. Serah’s face lit up as she held onto Kairi, “why don’t we take Noctis fishing? He really likes fishing, doesn’t he? Isn’t that like his _big_ thing?”

The trio gasped at the suggestion, and instantly, Kairi knew where to take the girls to shop for the raven. “There’s some fishing stores around the town, I think. I’ll drive us around and someone’s gotta look up the nearest place with the best quality fishing materials to take that boy fishing!”

The girls all screamed in joy, finding the best angler shop in town with their intention of buying a great fishing rod, a reel, and some bait to take the boy out to a nice pond so he could enjoy some quiet fishing.

* * *

Axel sighed as he sat in his car to take a deep breath. He just finished working in the flower shop, and he wanted to focus on changing his clothes so that he could work at the bar in just an hour or so, but his house was at least half an hour away, and Tifa’s bar was closer to Aerith’s flower shop than his sanctuary. The redhead glanced at the time, glancing off to the passenger seat that supported his duffel bag filled with different varieties of work clothes. “I’ll just change while I’m there...” Axel mumbled to himself as he pressed the engine button to start his car.

He tossed his small electronic key into the change compartment and pulled off within seconds. Not too long after the drive, Axel picked up a small bookbag in the back seat, and shoved his work clothes for Tifa’s place into it, before grabbing his key and hopping out of the car. He walked into the front doors, greeting Tifa who was standing behind the counter by the cash register.

“You’re here early.” Tifa smiled to the redhead, “you didn’t go home this time?”

“I forgot I left my clothes in the car, so...” Axel shrugged, showing his boss his bag. “Stuffed it all in here.”

“You have work after this?” Tifa asked, tucking her hair behind her ear. “If so, you’re always free to leave early.”

“No way- you know I’m not gonna leave before the shift ends.”

“Look Ax, you work really hard as is-... I don’t think today is going to be very busy, so whenever you see that chance to leave, you do it. Okay? I promise you I won’t be angry, I’ll even pay you for the whole night, it’s okay. You have so much work that you do every day, I honestly just want to see you pick just one job and stay with it.”

“Thanks Tifa...” Axel sighed, “I um. I wish I had just the one job too, honestly. But I need to do this, I gotta work.”

“Why? Why _do_ you work so hard?”

“I just-... loans, Kairi... Reno... just- it’s for a lot of things.” Axel shook his head, “I really don’t want to bother you with any of it.”

“But I _want_ to know about it, Ax.”

“Tif, I’m gonna go and change so that I can get ready for work, okay? I’ll talk to you later.” Axel stated dismissively, walking into the back room so that he could actually change and get ready for work.

* * *

Reno sighed at the mundane life that he was known for having. Though he worked as a Turk for Shinra, there were the few times where they’d send him off into a mission somewhere, but god forbid it be frequent. Reno was fond of the reconnaissance missions that he was usually sent off to do, when he was working with Rude. Reno decided that it was best for him to just go up to his room and sleep while his two younger siblings were away.

Currently, Reno was inside the house on his own on a Saturday, two days after Cloud’s wonderful birthday that he hadn’t been able to attend because he was stuck overseas but made sure to tell Axel to send him his regards due to not being able to call whilst he was on a plane that whole day. He stared at his bed, as empty as it was. His room was hellishly simple, just a bed against a wall, and the one dresser that held a mirror and pretty much all of his clothes on the opposing wall. Reno slowly took off his pants, leaving himself in only his boxers as he climbed into is bed and under his blankets, resting his head on his ever so fluffy pillow. “God I miss this bed so much. Sleeping on planes are _terrible_ , yo.” He mumbled to himself, smothering his face into his pillow happily.

A few hours later, Reno woke to hearing the front door open and close, with the cloud of female voices invading his living room. He grumbled as he stood, rubbing his face and sliding on his plain black slippers so that he could walk around the house comfortably. After noticing his legs, Reno figured it was best to at least put on some sweatpants, and a shirt of some sort so he won’t startle the girls. Following his thoughts, he finally focused on walking down the stairs, making eye contact with his little sister who was playing _Monopoly_ with Namine, Xion, and Serah. Yuffie seemed to be acting as the banker and the rule-maker out of the five.

“Hey... girls.” Reno mumbled, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. “What are you all up to?”

“We just went shopping, and I really wish you were the one that drove us today.” Kairi grumbled, “we’re playing Monopoly though, do you wanna play? Or do you want to watch?”

“No- nah. I’m good. But uh- where’s uh... the other one?”

“The other-- Ax? He should be working at Tifa’s right now.” Kairi mumbled, “he told me he couldn’t drive me around because he took someone else’s shift.”

“Wow. Okay, yo.” Reno stood in thought for a moment, “you enjoy Cloud’s party? Did you talk to him for me?”

“Yeah! Axel talked to Cloud for you, he knew more about _whatever_ you were trying to say to him, so... he took care of all of that. I also didn’t know that you were going to be home- but hey- there’s cake in the fridge for you if you want it. If not... Ax and I will eat it later.”

“Eat it- I can’t eat cake right now.” Reno mumbled, “going through that intense training stuff again, sorry about that, yo.”

“Well- okay...” Kairi sighed, “um-! Do you know that Noct’s birthday is coming up? Are you going to be around to celebrate with us?”

“Not that I know of. It’s not even like I know Noctis anyways. He’s been in this town for like 3 or 4 years or whatever and I have never had a full conversation with him, yo.”

“Noctis can give some really pleasant conversations.” Serah smiled as she commented, “but he gets really tired really quickly, so it’s kind of hard to talk to him for long periods of time.”

“That sounds like him, I guess.” Reno shrugged, “I’m just gonna grab some food, then I’m gonna go back to bed, take care, yo.” He dismissed himself, waving subtly as he walked into the kitchen for a quick moment, grabbing a few slices of bread from on top of the fridge before retreating back to his room. Kairi and her friends could only watch the man, deciding it was probably best to not talk to him since he looked fairly exhausted from his job. Kairi gave a disappointed look as she thought about her siblings, knowing how much both of them work _just because_.

* * *

“So, are you finally going to tell me what you’re working so hard for, Axel?” Tifa questioned, resting her elbows on the bar counter as she leaned over, placing her head in her hands to stare at the redhead manning the register.

Axel sighed, shaking his head slowly. “Honestly... I technically already told you why I’m working so much.”

“Well, I want to hear a more elaborate version of what you told me.” Tifa insisted, “either you tell me or I’m going to cut your pay for the week.”

“Wow that’s tyranny.” Axel raised his eyebrows, giving her a feigned feared expression, “honestly, that’ll just make me want to work harder, y’know.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, you’re my hardest worker.” Tifa shook her head slowly. “I just want to know like... why are you working so hard? I’m glad I was able to give you this job, I’m glad you take other people’s shifts... but just _why_ are you working so hard? I’m worried.”

“Loans, Kairi, Reno, the house, my car, Kairi’s car, fuck-... even Reno’s car. I also want a cat... or a dog... that’s extra money too.”

“But even then- just how much loans do you have? You didn’t even finish the first year, right?”

“I came close enough to finishing so now I have a good handful of loans for that. And also... Kairi- I want to make sure Kairi doesn’t have to worry about loans. Y’know? She’d flip if she had to work so much, so I’d rather do it for her.”

“That girl needs to learn labour at some point. Make her work for me, I’ll teach her a thing or two.”

“Lord no. I’d rather her take my job at Aerith’s place. Flower tending isn’t always gonna be my favorite thing.”

“You gonna get something for Noctis’ birthday?”

“Noct? What does he even like?” Axel gave a questioning look, pressing random buttons on the cash register, “I know he has a thing for fishing and dogs, but... what else? Like... that guy’s a little hard to figure out, y’know?”

“Talk to him, he might give you some ideas.”

“I don’t have time?” Axel looked over to his boss, who decided to sit up, placing her hands on the counter, fully ready to give him a lecture. “Of course, I _could_ have time if I didn’t take everyone’s shifts.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Maybe I should take him to a zoo.” Axel thought, looking back towards the cash register, eyeing the 3 button strangely. “He likes animals, right? He’d probably like zoo animals too.”

“That’s... something you would do for a child.”

“He’s still a child in my book.” Axel shrugged.

“Aren’t you 20 too?”  

“M-maybe.” Axel glanced off to the side, “he’ll be turning 21 before me.”

“So you’re younger than him? Is Riku’s the same age as you then?”

“A little younger.” Axel shrugged once more, trying his hardest not to seem bitter upon hearing the name come out of Tifa’s mouth. He’s not shocked, honestly, a lot of the time when he worked here during the day, Riku would come and visit him and talk with him like this was their own hangout area. Tifa was always interested in holding conversations with him because talking to him made her feel enlightened or something, even though she’s the same age as them so she wasn’t really learning anything new, but Axel always figured that it was the same way that he was pulled into dating Riku in the first place.

_That guy has a way with words, and his words are as smooth as silk._

Axel rolled his eyes in response to his thought, and earned a judgmental look from Tifa as she opened her mouth to talk. “What was that? Did you just roll your eyes at me?” Axel shook his head quickly, bringing himself back to the reality that he didn’t even realize he’d gotten distracted from.

“No- sorry! I just started thinking about something. That was instinct, I swear.”

“Wow, you can’t even talk to me without thinking about other things. Are you even focused on your job?” Tifa teased, giving a silly grin to the redhead in front of her.

“You remind me of Zack when you do stuff like that.” Axel pointed out, “it’s really weird, to be totally honest.”

“Being compared to Zack is really weird.” Tifa raised an eyebrow, “I was just playin’ around.”

“Oh no, there goes the lack of the ‘g’ sound.”

“Axel!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll do my job now.”

* * *

“ _You can only blame your problems on the world for so long, before it all becomes the same old song. Soon as we hit the hospital, I know we’re going to leave this town, and get new passports, get out now~!_ ” Kairi sung quietly to herself as she cleaned up the living room. The girls decided to move their party to Roxas’ house so that Reno could get his sleep while he was home for once in his life. She wiped the table to make sure that it had its familiar shine before deciding her job was done for the day. With that, she grabbed her house keys and her phone, leaving the house as spotless as she could.

She made her slow walk over to Roxas’ home, sending him a quick text letting him know that she was almost outside and for him to open up the door for her. By the time she was able to stand in front of the door, Roxas opened it, phone in hand. “Welcome princess.” He greeted, stepping out of the way to let her into the house. “Make yourself at home in my humble abode.”

“Wow, that’s pretty dorky of you.” Kairi teased, taking her shoes off by the front door. “Thank you for having me.”

“Not a problem, Princess.” Roxas gave a subtle grin, pointing to the living room, “everyone’s in there.”

“So I hear.” Kairi chuckled, eyeing all of her friends gathered in the living room, watching horror videos on youtube and eating various kinds of snacks. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Kai.” Most of them said in unison. Namine and Xion decided to pat the seat in between them, most likely the spot that was saved for her so that she could join in on the fun. “Hey- Kai guess what!” Xion looked over to her friend in joy, pulling her feet up on the couch so she could sit Indian style. “I saw Sora today, and he was with Vanitas for like... the first time in forever.”

“Oh, really?!” Kairi grinned, “how’d Vanitas look?” She questioned, raising her eyebrows in joy. “Still emo?”

“Oh definitely, still way too emo.” Xion chuckled, “it’s okay tho, it fits him and his edgy phase.” She snapped her fingers, “guess who else I saw today!”

“Who?”

“Riku, Kadaj, and Yazoo!”

“No Loz?” Kairi asked, giving an interested look to her good friend. It took her a moment to really think of just how much time Xion had from when they were just with each other, to be able to see so many people between coming from her own house, to Roxas’ own. “How did you manage to see them?” She asked, looking off to Namine, who opened her mouth quickly to answer.

“On our walk back, we ran into Sora and Vanitas, and Sora said he was meeting up with Riku. So Riku came over and we saw Kadaj and Yazoo following him so we talked to them all for like 5 minutes and then came here.” Namine explained, “it was nice seeing them all, honestly.”

“It was literally great, you should have been there.” Xion grinned playfully.

Kairi gave Xion a look saying “I-had-to-clean-up-your-mess-girl” as she rolled her eyes playfully. “Okay, we need to focus on the real reason why we’re together like this again. Noct’s birthday is just a week and a few days away and we still have no idea what we’re going to do for him.” Kairi cleared her throat, “we can’t even take him home, because apparently Lucis is in a huge war right now and Regis wants Noct to be safe.” She sighed, “we could take him fishing but that’d really only be enjoyable for him. We have no idea what type of music Noct likes, so we can’t even get Dem and Ax to play for him. Can’t get him a pet because he has Umbra. We could take him to a mattress warehouse so he could literally sleep all day.-”

“Well...” Namine decided to speak up, “Luna said she was taking Noctis out for dinner, and Noctis doesn’t have classes that day, but she’s not sure how early he’s actually going to wake up.”

“Great, he’s going to freakin’ sleep all day until his date.” Kairi sighed heavily, “okay... well... what... should we do?”

“I think we should leave it up to him, honestly...” Serah mumbled, “we’re really struggling on being able to give him things, or to be able to hang out with him and let him have fun on his birthday, but... he’s been here for what, 4 years, and no one’s actually given him anything special on his birthday until now?”

“We’ve given him small things, rings, necklaces, things like that...” Xion replied, “he does actually wear them, if you pay attention to his stuff. Do you remember the ring we got him two years ago?” Xion asked Serah and Rikku, who nodded in unison, “that ring is so worn out I’m shocked he still wears it, but it’s really cute so... I appreciate the fact that he wears it.”

“We should get him another one then, if that one’s worn out...” Serah gave an awkward chuckle, “that’d be a nice thing to do, we’re still thinking about him.”

“I still say letting him go fishing for a few hours would be a really good idea.” Namine smiled, “it’s what he enjoys, so we should let him do what he enjoys on his birthday, right?”

“Yeah but... _fishing._ ” Kairi shivered, “y'all really want to go fishing?”

“Honestly, like what Namine said, it should be what _he_ enjoys, not what we enjoy.” Roxas finally decided to speak up. He was listening to the conversation the whole time, but decided not to speak because of the uncertainty. “Though I can imagine Noctis would be a bit disappointed that even though he enjoys fishing, his friends and family aren’t having fun with him.”

“Should we just ask Noctis what he wants to do with his special day?” Kairi questioned, getting ready to stand up from her spot, “I will, I swear. I want him to have a great birthday.”

“I think... we should wait to see if he says anything.” Namine offered as a suggestion.

“Noctis won’t make subtle hints, that’s not his thing. The only time he ever does something like that is if he’s making fun of something someone else said before him.” Xion replied, grabbing onto her ankles as she looked down, thinking of an answer.

“Jeez... Noctis is one tough cookie.” Kairi grumbled.

* * *

“G’night, Tifa.” Axel waved, finally finishing his shift for the day. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“No! Nope! You’re not working here tomorrow.” Tifa called, “you’re taking a rest day, and you’re going to enjoy it. Go bond with old friends or something. You’re off tomorrow. You better not come in here!” She yelled, “now close my door! The cold air is getting in!”

Axel sighed, closing the door behind him as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets, reaching for both his phone and his car keys as he took his slow walk to his car. “Jeez.” Axel sighed, unlocking his car door, sitting in the car to warm up from the sudden cold air.

_It’s still summer..._

Axel sat for a moment in the silence of his car as he tried to figure out what to do with the rest of the night. He only has two main jobs, one with Aerith and the other working for Tifa. Occasionally he figured he should pick up a third job somewhere in the journey for when Tifa decides that he shouldn’t work, or when Aerith tells him he doesn’t need to work for the day, or the week. He wished he had a lot more money than what he has, but as of right now, it’s not as much as he _could_ be making. The Turks were always an option for him, so that he could work with Reno and be the dynamic trio, with Reno and Rude, but Axel would feel terrible for leaving Kairi by herself night after night. Especially leaving someone so _hyper_ , like she is.

Starting the car, Axel decided to drive himself home, hoping to be able to apologize to Kairi for not being able to take her out with her friends today. After the long hour drive back to his house, he sighed realizing that all of the lights in the house were left off, and figured Kairi hadn’t come home from her adventure. He slowly parked his car in the driveway in the back of the house, making sure that he didn’t hit Kairi’s own which was still parked closest to the house. He entered the house, and decided to send a text message to Kairi to make sure she was okay. The moment she replied, which was just a few seconds later, he decided to take something small to eat and made his way upstairs to his bedroom, finally able to sleep after such a long day of working.

* * *

“Zack, where are you going?” Kairi asked as she walked into Zack’s house following Xion to relocate. It was just she and Xion left after their long adventure, and upon entering the house, she saw Zack wearing some familiar yet unfamiliar clothes. His SOLDIER uniform. “You’re not-”

“Yeah, I’ll be gone for at most... a month? Sucks, but I gotta go.” Zack shrugged, running a hand through his hair, “I’ll be back, have fun and don’t argue with your family.” He added in, looking at Xion as he walked out of the door before Kairi could even think of closing it.

“That... really sucks.” Kairi sighed, “he’s going to be gone for Noct’s birthday? Sometimes I wish that he didn’t have this job...”

“Cloud gets worried about it too. But I mean, he’s technically the army, and he keeps himself in shape for reasons like this, so... you get used to it, but it still kinda hurts.” Xion sighed, locking the door finally. “It’s okay, Zack’ll come back and he’ll be super happy, like every time he goes out on these long missions.”

“Zack went on a mission?” Xion and Kairi turned their attention to the raven who was slowly making his way down the stairs, he looked exhausted, like he had just woken up, and Umbra was attempting to support him by helping him walk straight. “He just left?”

“Yeah..” Xion nodded, eying Noctis.

“How long?”

“He said it shouldn’t be more than a month...”

“Oh...” Noctis nodded slowly, turning his attention to the kitchen. Xion noticed the drop in his tone, sounding of worry more than anything. “Sometimes I...” He mumbled loud enough for the two girls to hear, “kinda wish I was able to help him..”

“You don’t even know where he was going.”

“What if he was going to _my_ home?” Noctis raised his voice slightly. He didn’t want to yell at the girl, because he’d honestly feel bad, but he was genuinely concerned. “I know that war is getting worse, but... I can’t-”

“It’s not your fault, Noct.” Xion attempted to help, glancing over to Kairi, giving her a look telling her to go upstairs so that they could have some time to themselves. Kairi agreed, nodding slowly and waving to Umbra before running up the steps as silently as possible. “I mean, I know you were told that you shouldn’t go back until the war was finished, but who knows, it probably isn’t that bad. Zack most likely isn’t even going _to Lucis_. He’s probably going to some backwater town in bumblefuck nowhere.”

“But what if he _is_ going to Lucis? What if it did get worse? God- I haven’t been able to talk to my dad in 4 years, Xion.” Noctis sighed, looking at the sink in front of him. “I get so worried that I’m going to lose my second dad.”

“Your second... what?” Xion cleared her throat, “are you calling Zack your second dad?”

“What...” Noctis nodded slowly, “yeah, I guess? Zack either acts like a big brother that I will never have, or... a second dad.” He turned on the faucet, letting the water run for a few seconds. “Besides,” he turned and bent over, reaching for Umbra’s bowl by his feet. Standing, he poured out the dirty water and went to refill it with clean water, “I feel like... if I worked in Shinra with him, I’d be more confident with him... y’know... doing all of this.”

“Oh no, nope, no.” Xion shook her head furiously, “you _can’t_ work in Shinra.” She protested, “if you work there, your father might have a heart attack. _Zack_ might have a heart attack. Shit- even Luna might! It’s bad enough that both Zack and Cloud have that type of job, and that Reno’s literally gone from home more than he’s ever actually _lived_ there… Lightning isn’t even around Serah too much, Sazh is pretty much missing-... I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I let you go… so many people-”

“If Ignis and Gladio can work for Shinra, so can I.” Noctis mumbled in response, “you’re acting like I’m not capable of... _fighting_. I’m definitely capable.”

“But you’re- a _Prince_ Noct. You have to remember that before anything else.”

“So what? Right now, that’s just a title. No one cares that I’m a prince around here. If they did… they’d just want to pretend to be my friend, to get to know me... I don’t think I would have been able to stomach any of that, not again.”

“Again?”

Noctis sighed, shaking his head and giving a stretch as he looked off to Umbra, placing the bowl onto the ground. He rubbed and ruffled Umbra’s fur as he watched the dog drink the water messily. After a moment of silence, Noctis stood and made his way out of the kitchen, walking back up the stairs, presumably up to his room. Xion looked over to Umbra, who gave an innocent look to the raven girl as she leaned over the kitchen counter.

“Noctis has a lot of secrets, huh?” Xion questioned, talking to Umbra who barked in response.

* * *

Kairi could only sigh as she thought about the fact that Axel had been sleeping since he got back from work. He was over exhausting himself day after day, and it seemed like it’s been getting worse since before and after Cloud’s party. It’s been only a few days since then, but he’s still been doing the same thing. Kairi decided to walk upstairs, to where their bedrooms were, and looked at Axel’s door. It wasn’t fully shut, which usually meant that even though Axel was sleep, he was fine with waking up if Kairi ever needed anything. Kairi knocked lightly with one hand, resting her other hand on the door as she pushed it open. “Ax? You in here?” She whispered looking to where Axel’s bed is.

His bedroom itself was a lot messier than usual, clothes scattered everywhere, on the floor, dresser, in the closet and even on his bed. Kairi shook her head, taking in the full mess of a scene in front of her. “Ax? Your room’s a mess dude...” She mumbled to herself, staring at the body wrapped up under his blankets. “Dude....”

It took a moment before Axel was able to fully process that someone was in his room, and he turned, shuffling around to be able to look at the door straight across from the foot of his bed. Axel grumbled, making noises as he sat up in his bed, “Kai?” He mumbled, his voice raspy.

“You’re awake, snowflake?”

Axel’s face instantly scrunched up hearing his sister calling him “snowflake” out of all the things she could say. “What’s up?” Axel questioned, “you need something?”

“Yeah.” Kairi nodded, crossing her arms over her chest, “I wanna know why you have it marked that you’re going to go to work in like 3 hours?” She asked, recalling a schedule that was placed on the living room table downstairs. She always told him not to make it so that he had work shifts during the night, or the early morning, but for some unknown reason, he seems to do it more often.

“3 hours from now? I’m opening Aerith’s shop, if I remember correctly...” Axel yawned, looking down to his blankets to try and think of his schedule for the day. “Tifa won’t let me work today, so it’s just Aerith and the convenience store today.”

“Nope, no. You’re not working today.”

“What do you mean I’m not working today?” Axel sat up from his spot on the bed, stretching and taking a deep breath. “I already planned out my work schedule for the rest of the week.”

Kairi shook her head, “you’re hanging out with me, Sora and Roxas today.” Axel made another face at Kairi, one filled with confusion and concern. “I already called Aerith and told her you were going to be hanging out with us today.”

“Kairi.” Axel spoke with a clear voice, “I’m not dealing with your shenanigans.”

“Axel, get up and get dressed.” Kairi cleared her throat, “we’re going out in an hour, and you’re driving.”

“What the hell? You don’t control me Kai.”

“Axel~, you have no choice, get up and let's go!”

After a series of protests from Axel and an hour or so later, Axel was forced to go to the mall with Kairi, Sora and _Roxas_. Something in Axel’s head was pegging for him to start questioning, but he chose to ignore it for the sake of not having to bring up any drama on his sudden day off of work.

Sora at some point had wandered off to find a new pair of pants, and had taken Roxas with him. Kairi and Axel weren’t interested in wandering into the store, so they stood outside the store and shifted awkwardly, unsure of what to say to the other.

After a long moment of silence, Kairi sighed and decided to speak, “when are you going to tell Roxas how you feel about him?”

“First off,” Axel started, glancing to his little sister, “I’ve definitely decided that I wasn’t going to bother forcing myself to try and get into a relationship with anyone.” He sighed, “and second, Roxas probably isn’t the type of person for me anyways.”

“You always had a thing for blondes.”

“Is this why you wanted me to come with you?” Axel mumbled, “you know this is the absolute worst way to do that.”

“Ax, I love you so much that I want you to be happy and not have to worry about things. When I saw that you apparently had work to do, I decided to just call Aerith and tell her that you weren’t going to come in today. She was happy to hear it.”

“Why the hell would she be happy to hear something like that?”

“Axel.” Kairi looked straight ahead at the store, her eyes trained on where she last saw Sora and Roxas, “you paid off your student loans a few months after you graduated.” Kairi huffed, “you saved money for me to go to college without really struggling by now. You’ve paid off most of your car _and_ my car. You’ve taken care of the both of us more than Reno could have even managed. So, what are you working so hard for?”

Axel shrugged, “I guess… I-I don’t know Kairi. I really don’t know. It’s like I’m addicted to working.”

“Is that really a bad thing?” Kairi questioned, “you could be addicted to worse things.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to quit either of the jobs.”

“Take less shifts, Ax. You know Tifa and Aerith would be okay with that.”

Axel shook his head, looking around the mall to try and find something to catch his attention. He watched a trio of high school kids walk and run around with their ice cream cones in their hands. He heard one of them groan and say something about hating the fact that school was starting up again after what felt like such a short break.

“..el?”

Axel kept his eyes trained on the trio, suddenly letting his thoughts creep up on him in an unfashionable way. He remembered how he felt when he first started high school with his no longer close friend, and how he’d always buy ice cream for the both of them, but the friend would never eat it.

“Ax..?”

Familiar blue hair flashed in his memory, familiar golden eyes and a face that used to smile while judging him.

“Axel?”

From hearing his name clearly, Axel jumped and glanced back to his sister, shocked to see Sora and Roxas looking at him curiously. “You zoned out for like, 5 minutes, dude.” Sora pointed out with a grin.

“O-oh.” Axel sighed and rolled his shoulders to stretch, “sorry about that.”

“What were you thinking about? We literally were just talking then you zoned out.” Kairi asked, placing her hands on her hips, “I don’t appreciate being ignored, you know.”

Axel glanced back to where he last saw those high school kids, and shook his head. “No idea, I guess I just lost my train of thought.” He shrugged, turning his attention back to the kids, “anyways… did you guys figure out what you wanted?”

Sora nodded, “yeah! Rox and I found a good bit of clothes!” He held up his bag and pointed to Roxas’ own, who tried to hide it behind his body. “But I’m hungry, so we should get something to eat!”

“Uh, sure. I guess we could use some food.”

“Wanna get some Chinese from the food court?” Kairi asked, “it doesn’t really matter to me but it sounds like a good idea.”

“Sure.” Roxas shrugged. “I could eat.”

The group slowly made their way to the food court, with Sora and Kairi leading the way as they argued occasionally about which way to go. Roxas at some point had tried to keep up with them while Axel chose to walk in the back, but slowly Roxas had slowed down and stayed closer to Axel.

“Why do you uh…” Roxas cleared his throat as he tried to hold a conversation with the redhead, “why do you work so much?”

“I’d like to know that myself.” Axel shrugged without much thought, “I probably just don’t want to waste away literally doing nothing.”

“I thought you were a writer too?” Roxas turned to look at the taller man who looked disinterested, “and you also do music, don’t you?”

“I don’t want to make a career out of music, and writing is more of a pass time.”

“How are you even able to keep up with Terra when you have so much to do?”

“I just _do_.” Axel sighed, “it doesn’t matter though.”

“How does it not matter?”

“It just doesn’t.”

“Axel… I don’t get it, why are you being like this?”

“Didn’t I tell you that I wasn’t going to fight for you?” Axel glanced at the small blonde, “I meant it, Roxas. I’m _not_ going to fight for you.”

Roxas’ eyes met Axels’ and with a small, quiet sigh, he stopped in his tracks. “I’m just not used to this. I’m not used to people liking me and wanting to put in the effort to try and date me. I’m not used to thinking about the fact that someone actually… has feelings for me.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that for much longer, would you?” Axel asked, stopping to glance back at the blonde. “Sometimes it’s just not worth it to try.”

“So you’re giving up?”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Axel, are you giving up on me?”

Axel let out a groan, “don’t you like your cousin?” He asked, looking up to the ceiling. His comment certainly caught the eyes of some random shoppers who were walking by. Roxas watched a mother grab her child by the arm and pull them away quickly to avoid hearing the rest of the conversation.

“I do but… like you said, he’s my _cousin_.” Roxas took a step closer so that he could speak quietly. He didn’t want more parents judging him for his tastes. “I can’t date my cousin, that’s morally unethical.”

“I’m not gonna judge you on your kinks or whatever.” Axel shrugged. He moved his head to face what was in front of him, the food court. “I wish I could say I liked Riku, but he really wasn’t my type.”

“Axel…” Roxas cleared his throat, “do you like me?”

“Wasn’t that obvious?”

“Do you want to date me?”

“... wasn’t that obvious?” Axel repeated, glancing at Roxas.

“Then we’re going to do things my way.” Roxas huffed, “prove to me that you really like me. Prove to me that we _should_ date.”

“Then what?”

“Maybe we’ll date.” Roxas shrugged, “maybe we won’t.” He added, walking past Axel to catch up to his friends. Axel stared at Roxas as he walked by, feeling a grin tug at his lips. He let out a heavy sigh and followed the blonde back to his sister and her friend.

Later that evening, after Axel dropped off Sora and Roxas at their respective houses, he led Kairi into the house and gave her a hearty grin. “So, Kai.”

“So… Ax.” Kairi was in the process of taking off her hoodie and her shoes by the front door, as she glanced up to her older brother who hand his hands placed on his hips. “Why are you just standing there?”

Axel’s grin never wavered as he made eye contact with his sister, “hear me out, okay?”

“Oh god, what’s going on? What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything yet, but _hear me out._ ”

“What am-” Kairi placed her hoodie on a hanger in the closet right by the front door and turned to give her brother her full attention. “-what’s going on? Why do you look so happy?”

“What type of dog do you want?”

“What?!” Kairi practically jumped in joy, “a pet?!”

“It doesn’t _have_ to be a dog. All of your friends have dogs so I mean we can just get a cat and it’ll be great and super cute if you _really_ want. Cats are also so much easier to take care of so we don’t have to worry too much about cleaning up or whatever.” Axel raised an eyebrow at his sister as she ran to give him a hug. He, albeit somewhat uncomfortably, wrapped his arms around her and gave her a warm and soothing hug. His grin being replaced by a soft smile, happy that his choice was something that could excite his little sister so much.

“I would _love_ a cat.” Kairi smiled into her brother’s chest, “I want a cat and I want to name her Fluffy.”

Kairi pulled back from Axel, her smile still as wide as ever. Axel had quickly switched up his facial emotions to one more playful as he made eye contact with his sister. “We can even get two cats. One for me, and one for you.”

“Let's make sure they’re from the same litter, so we know they really _are_ brother and sister.”

“Oh definitely. They gotta share the same fur color and everything.”

“This is going to be great!”

* * *

The next morning, Axel woke Kairi in a similar way that she had done to him the morning before. He grinned at her and said it was payback, but also suggested that she hurry to get showered and ready so they could go out and look for a pair of cats. He did have work, and his convenience store boss reprimanded him for skipping out on his shift, so he was forced to work a little earlier than usual for the same amount of pay.

Kairi was the happiest that Axel had ever seen her in ages. The last time he recalled seeing her like this was when he and Reno were both home for her birthday. A ping of sadness hit Axel as he glanced over at his little sister chirping about the different types of names that she had listed off for her soon to be new kitty, and all the clothes she was going to dress the poor kitten up in.

“Fluffy is still definitely number one.” She spoke, looking at Axel, “or should I go with something super edgy?”

“Nah, Fluffy is fine if you wanna name your inferior kitten that.”

“ _Inferior_?” Kairi huffed, “what, you have a better name for your kitten?”

“Lea.” Axel shrugged, “short, simple and to the point.”

“Fine, then Fluffy is out.”

Axel chuckled as he drove into the parking lot and parked his car some distance away from the rest of the cars. He turned off the car and turned to his sister once more, “you ready?”

“Barely. I’m super excited.”

“I’m excited too.” Axel grinned, stepping out of the car and closing the door behind him. He waited for Kairi to exit from the passenger side before he locked it, and led his sister into the pet store. Axel told the woman at the front desk that he already had an appointment to see some freshly born kittens and was led to the back of the building where the new bundle of kittens were roaming around close to their mother.

“Do you know how to take care of kittens?” The young woman asked. She had dark brown, almost black hair and bright green eyes. Her name tag read “Melody” and she looked fairly young to be working in a pet store, but Axel shrugged it off.

“Yeah, when I was younger I took care of some kittens. I can teach my little sis here.” He pointed to Kairi who was currently sitting on the floor cuddling three different kittens. “Thanks though.”

“No problem! I’d assume that you have everything that you need then, so I won’t press on too much, but just make sure they stay warm. Fall is coming so it’ll start getting super cold super quickly and that’s pretty bad for kittens so we have them near their mother or in a warm room often.”

“Yep, I’ll make sure to keep a note.” Axel nodded, “more for her than for me, though.”

Melody giggled, “I assume that you and your sister really love animals then? My mom used to spend a lot of time in the sea, so I feel like she was probably a mermaid or something in her past life.” She placed her hands on her hips, “she says that she really likes the land now though, so she spends a lot of time with dogs. But I really like the sea! So I might just be turning into the type of person that she used to be.”

“Maybe you’ll turn into the mermaid that she was in her past life.” Axel grinned. He glanced over to Kairi who had dwindled down her kitten repertoire to two, one boy and one girl. She sat snuggling the two kittens and slowly made an attempt to stand up with both kittens in her hands. Melody offered assistance to the cautious girl and gave a smile once she was stable. “Found the kittens, princess?”

“Look, okay, they look really similar but they really aren’t and I’m pretty sure that this is the boy,” Kairi held out the kitten in her left hand and passed it off to Axel, “and I’m like super sure that this little one right here is a girl. And it was like fate that I fell in love with her first so I’m going to name her Destiny, and you can name yours Lea.”

Axel and Melody looked at one another, giving an awkward chuckle to the other as Axel handed the kitten back to Kairi, taking the kitten in her right hand. “This little guy right here that you were _super sure_ was the girl, is the boy. Thank you.” Axel lifted the kittens’ tail and wagged it playfully. “I’m glad you figured out a name though.”

“Oh, well then…” Kairi looked at the kitten in her hands, “we’re gonna take you home and love you, Destiny!”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll need the two of you to fill out some papers and you’ll be free to go!” Melody pointed to the front desk, “it shouldn’t take too long.”

“No problem.” Axel nodded.

“I have a freakin’ kitten.” Kairi whispered in joy, admiring the kitten in her hands. “I love you so much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this the chapters get a lot more... moody, for a current lack of better words. That and the arc is actually going to be picking up a LOT more. It stressed me out to write, but not in a bad way per-se.


	4. So... what?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's focused on Sora (mainly), but things definitely start to pick up, slowly but surely. But yes, it's Sora's chapter AND you get to see a few more characters a little more in depth. 
> 
> The start takes place the same day as the end of the last chapter. Just a few hours later.

As confused as he was with the current conversation, Sora smiled at his best friend as she boasted about her new pet that she and Axel had gone to get somewhere earlier in the day. He, Kairi, Riku and Namine were all huddled up in the corner of one of their favorite fast food joints. Sometime ago, he had ordered a milkshake, and had spent most of his time drinking the milkshake while Kairi shared her happiness with her friends.

“It seems like the new fad is families having pets.” Riku pointed out, looking at Kairi’s phone as she showed the trio the amazingly cute pictures of her kitten. “What type of cat is that anyways? It looks like a really fluffy Siamese.”

“I knew _Fluffy_ would have worked.” Kairi mumbled, “Destiny is a Ragdoll! They both are! And they’re both super cute and they’re gonna turn out to be super fluffy and I’m gonna cry because I’m gonna have to brush her tail and love her even more and it’s going to make me super happy.”

“I’m so happy for you.” Namine smiled, “pets reflect their owners, so if she turns out to be super spoiled, I wouldn’t be too shocked.”

“Did you just make a joke?” Riku grinned, “a fitting one at that.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

“Super rude, by the way.” Kairi shook her head, “don’t bully me because my kitten is gonna be so much cuter than Pryna.”

“Challenging Pryna already? Destiny was just born.” Riku added, pointing at her phone. “You have the proof right there in your hands.”

“Oh please, you have no idea how cute Destiny is already. She just looks at me and I wanna cry at how cute she is It’s amazing.” Kairi smiled, “I love her so much.”

“I’m sure she loves you too.” Namine chuckled. “Challenge Pryna when she’s big and fluffy enough to use her tail as a paintbrush.”

Their conversation continued as Sora sat silently, finishing the rest of his milkshake with a loud noise. Kairi and Namine soon got into their own conversation, and with that, Riku turned his attention to the boy sitting next to him quietly. Sora leaned back in his seat with his hands over his stomach as he slowly went to rub what Riku assumed to be his newly full belly. “Sora? You okay?”

It was as if Sora was lost deep in his own thoughts. He stared straight ahead, and didn’t even respond to Riku when he had been called. So, naturally, Riku was concerned about his friend. “Sora?” Riku tried again, this time reaching to shake Sora’s shoulder. “Sooora?”

Sora jerked in response, turning quickly to face Riku with a sheepish smile. “Riku!”

“You alright there, buddy?” Riku asked, “you looked kinda... out of it?”

Sora nodded slowly, “yeah... I just-” He cleared his throat, “I just need to get some air or something. I don’t know.”

“Want me to come with you?”

“D-did Zack already leave?” Sora turned to Kairi and Namine.

Namine nodded slowly as Kairi lowered her phone, “he left two days ago.” Kairi muttered. “Why? What’s up?”

“Nothing really. For some reason, I really just wanted to talk to him.”

“You can talk to us, you know.” Riku pressed, “what’s going on?”

“N-nothing.” Sora shook his head, “I should get going.” He said quickly, standing from his spot. Secretly, he was glad that he had chosen a spot at the end of the table so that he could make a quick escape. Ignoring the protests from his friends, Sora quickly walked in the direction to the Fair household. Even if Zack wasn’t there, someone else there could probably help him, right?

Now, Sora is the youngest of three, his older siblings being Leon and Vanitas. With brothers as lifeless and edgy as them, it’s hard for him to really be himself and express his feelings without being heavily judged. Of course, he could just talk to Riku, Kairi, or Namine, but something about it was pushing Sora away. Sora was grateful for all the times that Zack had been there to help him or anyone else whenever they had problems, and honestly, it always seemed like the Fair household was the main household where people would gather whenever they needed support.

Sora of course, had no idea what was wrong with him. The week had been going by smoothly. After Cloud’s birthday party, he was able to converse with everyone like normal. He got to talk to Leon, which has been a rarity as of late. Sora has no idea where Leon even works, that’s how bad it’s been.

It’s worse that his other brother, Vanitas, was as antisocial as ever. He sees Vanitas pretty much every day, but the raven doesn’t give him the time of day to even socialize like a brother should. So of course Sora’s bound to have moments where he had no idea what to do with himself.

It didn’t take long for Sora to find himself standing in front of his destination. He was fairly sure that Xion was out doing something with Roxas, Hayner, Pence and Olette, but he wasn’t certain about Noctis. Sora slowly walked to the front door, knocking heavily to get the attention of whomever could be inside the house. It felt weird for him, since he almost always had someone available to open the door for him. After a moment of silence and waiting, Sora had decided to knock again, a bit louder than the last.

In the midst of his last knock, he felt the wind as the door opened rather quickly, revealing a rather stressed out Terra and a very happy Umbra. “Sora?” Terra asked, “why are you here? Everyone else is out.”

_Perfect_. Sora thought, looking to the ground to give Umbra a greeting, allowing the dog to sniff his hand and lick his fingers. “I forgot that Zack left a few days ago so…”

“You’re clearly a few days too late to talk to Zack.” Terra mumbled, running a hand through his messy hair. “You doing alright?”

“Not really.” Sora shook his head, “do you mind if I come in? I don’t want the guys to know where I went.”

“Are you playing hookie with your friends?” Terra asked, leaning back from practically guarding the door. He took a step out of the way to let Sora in. “I don’t really want to ask too much into this, since that’s literally none of my business.”

“Actually… do you think it could be your business for a bit?” Sora asked, looking up to the brunette in front of him. “Even though you’re not Zack… I feel like I need someone’s help.”

“Why don’t you ask your friends then?” Terra asked, watching Sora take off his shoes with Umbra following closely behind him. It was a familiar action that Terra knew Umbra really only did if he, Xion, or Noctis were in a bad mood. After all, animals are able to sense the things that humans can’t. He felt as his eyes went to squint at the dog as he closed and locked the door behind him. “Sora?” He asked after their long silence.

Sora stood with Umbra close behind him. Sora had looked off to the side with a saddened look on his face. Terra had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he also wasn’t very good with helping people through their emotions and his emotional companion, Ventus, wasn’t here at the moment. “Do you… want me to call someone?”

“Please don’t.” Sora whispered. “C-can we go to your room?” He asked, “just in case someone comes home…”

“You want this to be as private as possible?” Terra asked with his eyebrow raised. “I’m…” Terra watched Sora nod, “my room is kind of a mess.”

“My room is probably worse.”

Which it definitely wasn’t. Sora was shocked to see how someone as ‘kept together’ as Terra was an absolute slob. Albeit, Ventus probably had a hand in making the mess, there was far too much for more than one person to cause normally. Terra gave Sora an apologetic smile and went to clean off his bed as best as possible. He explained to Sora that he doesn’t have more than the one desk chair because Ventus always preferred to sit on his bed. Terra also explained that he spent most of his time in the desk chair, so it was starting to earn some wear and tear from the constant use.

Slowly Sora sat on Terra’s bed, and watched as Terra sat on his desk chair, spinning it to face Sora. “Alright, Sora… what’s going on in that big head of yours?”

“I really… don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lately… I’ve been feeling kind of… out of it? I haven’t felt like I was… _me_.”

Terra raised an eyebrow, “go on…?”

Sora took a deep breath, “I don’t know what it is…” he started, “for some reason, something in me feels strange. I’ve been _happy_ but not as happy as I used to be. It’s getting to the point where it kind of… hurts…”

Terra nodded slowly, “has something happened with you and your brothers?”

“Not that I know of-” Sora shook his head, “Vani is still- well… _Vani._ Leon hasn’t really been home much either so I haven’t been able to talk to him.”

“When was the last time you really had a chance to talk to Leon?”

“Cloud’s birthday?”

_That was days ago_ . Terra thought, leaning back in his chair, taking in the sound of the loud creak from the chairs’ protest for it nearing the end of its’ life. “Do you _want_ to talk to Leon more?”

“Of course! He’s my brother.”

“How have you been around your friends? Has things changed with them?”

“Everything still feels the same, but… I don’t really know. Something just hit me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was hanging out with my friends and something just blanked. Since then, I haven’t really been as happy as I usually am.”

_Isn’t he just depressed?_ Terra crossed his left leg over his right, thinking of what to tell the younger brunette. “Has anyone told you anything that could have sparked this?”

“Nothing that would be considered unusual, I guess?”

“Interesting.”

“Do you know what’s wrong with me?” Sora’s voice was filled with concern as he leaned forward in hopes that it would get Terra to answer him faster.

“Well… I have an _idea_ , but I feel like I should let you talk some more.” Terra cleared his throat, “what happened on the day that you started feeling like this?”

Sora leaned back, thinking a ways back to give him an answer. “Well…” he started, “I remember waking up and doing all of my normal life things. I had my normal short conversation with Vani which was literally just a hi and a bye.” Sora took a moment to think some more, “I went to hang out with Kairi and RIku, and we did the same things that we usually do because Kairi and I don’t have school yet so we’re free to cause trouble…” he sighed, “everything was the exact same as the day before, and the day before that… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Do you feel like your life feels boring?” Terra asked suddenly. Sora looked up with shock, unsure of what to tell the older man.

“B-boring?”

“Do you feel bored with the things that you’re doing now? Does it feel mundane, in a sense?”

“I… m-maybe?”

“Only you would really know that answer, Sora.” Terra cleared his throat, “you were hanging out with your friends earlier, weren’t you?” He watched Sora nod, “were your happy to be with them? Were you bored?”

“I… felt like I didn’t really… belong there.”

_That’s exactly what I didn’t want you to say._ Terra squinted, nodding slowly at the response. “Sora, I have a feeling that you _could_ be depressed.”

“Depressed?!”

“Don’t quote me on it.” Terra put up a hand, “that’s just my assumption from what you’ve told me. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not okay. You’re okay. You _are_ okay.” He repeated, “this would be a good time to call Leon, tell him to come home and talk to him.”

“But Leon’s working…”

“I think your brother would understand that maybe he should stop working so much so that he can spend time with his little brother.”

“Do you really think I should call him?”

“Of course.”

Sora nodded slowly, “I guess… I’ll try calling him to try and get him to come back home for a few days or something… I don’t know.”

“I really don’t like seeing you like this, Sora. I’m used to the super bubbly, super friendly, hyperactive brat that was, and still is, Sora Leonhart.”

Sora gave him a small smile, “I don’t like feeling like this.”

“I’m not good with helping people, so this is about as much as I can do. But, I do think you should call up Leon.”

Sora chuckled, “how did you manage to meet Ventus? I remember him saying that you tried to flirt with him or something with a note but there was this whole thing with there being two different Terra’s. I don’t know, I remember Roxas telling me about it.”

“That literally makes no sense.” Terra let out a laugh, “no, I graduated by the time we met.” He shook his head and thought for a moment, “hey- wait a second-!” He turned to his computer on the desk, “that guy…”

“What?”

“He took a part of the story that I was writing and made it our love story?!” Terra turned back to Sora, shocking the younger brunette. “I’m a year younger than Zack. Ven hasn’t even hit 20 yet.”  

“Wait, so Ven lied?”

“He was probably playing around, if he told Roxas. I met Ven by chance when I had no choice but to go with Zack somewhere. We went to Cloud’s place because Zack said something about needing something from Cloud or whatever, and Ven must have heard us so he came up from the basement.” Terra explained, “I don’t know what it was, but when I got lazy and decided to sit on the couch because Zack was taking his sweet time, Ven kept me company.”

“That sounds super cute.”

“Well, we didn’t start dating there. It took us a while.” Terra cleared his throat, “like, maybe a few years or so. He was 15 when we first met, so he was in his second or third year of school or something, I don’t remember. I told him if he had good grades by the time he graduated, I’d think about dating him. He graduated with straight A’s, just about. He had a B in one class but from my memory, the teacher was pretty hard so I gave him a pass.”

Sora leaned in, completely engulfed in the story. He was also quite shocked to hear something so normal happen to two people who were quite extraordinary but worked amazingly together. “Then what?!” He pressed for more.

“Uh, well…” Terra thought for a moment, “I took him out on a date and we got to know each other better. He thought it was going to be super weird because I’m basically Zacks' brother but… after I explained some things to him, he decided he still wanted to date.”

“You’re _basically_ Zacks' brother?”

“I’m… his step brother.” Terra admitted, “technically not anymore because no one knows what happened to my dad, and Zacks' original parents, last I checked, were together again. Even though that was years ago.”

“Are Zacks' parents still alive?”

“I don’t know. That’s something you’d have to ask Zack.”

“Wow…”

Terra gave a subtle shrug, looking at Sora to see if he wanted to continue hearing the rest of the story. When the room became silent, with Sora staring at him with his bright blue eyes, Terra took it as the initiative to speak once more. “Ven and I didn’t start dating until he turned 18. It felt a bit weird for me because it’s really only been a year and I’m already 22 so…”

“Does age really matter if you’re in love with the person?”

“Sometimes.”

“When does that apply?”

“Sora we are stepping out of my territory and I’m not going to explain that to you, if you want to know ask your brother.” Terra put up a hand to stop Sora from leaning closer to him. He had already invaded his personal bubble but had began asking strange questions that Terra couldn’t admit to the other boy that he really wasn’t interested in answering any of them either.

Sora nodded, standing from his spot on the bed. “I’ll go call Leon then.” He gave Terra a soft smile, “thank you for talking to me, Terra.”

“No problem.” Terra returned the smile as he stood from his spot. “Since I guess you’re leavin’ I gotta go and lock the door behind you.”

Sora let out a chuckle as he walked to the door. He was shocked to see Umbra asleep by the door that he hadn’t realized Terra shut. Out of curiosity, Sora went to pet Umbra and turned his attention back to Terra. “Why don’t you let Umbra in your room?”

“My room is a mess, I’d lose him in there.”

“Not even a peek?”

“He looks at my door, that’s enough.” Terra shook his head. “Besides, most of the time he’s with Noct. I don’t know why he’s hanging around me.” That was a lie, Terra knew exactly why. It wasn’t for him, but for Sora.

“Oh- is that where Umbra’s been?” Sora and Terra turned their attention to Noctis who slowly walked up a few of the steps. “So he’s been with you and Sora? No wonder.”

“Well, not really.” Terra shook his head once more, “he’s been laying out here.”

“So Umbra’s just been ignoring me then.” Noctis mumbled, “what a good boy.”

Sora chuckled as he watched Umbra jump up from his spot and run to give Noctis attention. He felt laughter bubble up in him as he saw Noctis protest Umbra’s love, and eventually give into the puppy dog eyes and goofy smile. It didn’t take too long for Sora to be in a full fit of laughter watching the duo interact with each other.

Terra raised an eyebrow, promising to explain to Noctis what happened without giving away much of their personal conversation. Noctis nodded slowly and took Umbra down the rest of the steps, much to his refusal due to him wanting to be close to Sora to make sure he was okay. Terra guided Sora down the steps as the younger boy continued to let out the last few bits of his laughter. He felt some amusement in seeing Sora look so entertained at something so normal. “Say, Sora…”

Sora took a moment to take a deep breath and wipe the tears from his eyes, “yeah?” he said between breaths.

“Do you have a pet at home?”

“No… we don’t…” Sora looked off to Umbra, “I’d love to have a pet, but Leon’s not really fond of animals in the house.”

“Even a hamster would be good for you.”

“I really want a pet mouse.”

“A mouse?”

“Yep! I’d name it after my favorite cartoon character, Mickey!”

Terra gave Sora a supportive smile. “That sounds like a great idea.”

“I should get going now though. Riku is probably _super_ worried about me and I feel like I’ve bothered you enough.”

Terra and Noctis waved their goodbyes as Sora walked out of their house. Unsure of what to do with himself, he decided to call Riku on his way back to the house to make sure that his best friend wasn’t shitting bricks about his sudden disappearance.

“ _Hello?”_

Sora figured Riku hadn’t looked at the Caller ID before answering, “hey… Riku…”

“ _Sora?! Are you okay? What happened?”_

Sora felt a smile tug at his lips, “I’m fine. I’m sorry for leaving like that.”

_“As long as you’re okay. We understand."_

Without really thinking, Sora’s mouth moved on it’s own, “but do you really?” He found himself asking the man on the other end.

_“Uh- what?”_ Sora decided to stay quiet, _“are you home? I can come over._ ”

“I’m not.” Sora replied quickly, “I’ll be home soon though, but…” He cleared his throat, “I want to call Leon and ask him to come home, I really want to talk to him.”

_“Isn’t Leon’s birthday today?”_

Sora froze in his tracks. “Wait. Has it been 4 days already?”

_“Uh, yeah? Shouldn’t Leon be home anyways?”_

_Oh my god_. Sora thought to himself, “Leon’s birthday is literally right in between Cloud and Noct’s birthdays.”

_“Yep._ ”

“Riku, I’m such an idiot, I completely forgot it was Leons’ birthday today!”

_“Want me to meet you at your place?”_

“Please.” Sora sighed heavily as he hung up the phone, happy to know that he had a friend he knew he really could always rely on but literally never did. Sora ran the rest of the way to his house, shocked to see Riku walking around the corner to meet him. “Riku! That was fast!”

“When I realized it was you that called, I made my way over here.”

“Even though I was probably going to tell you not to?”

“You can’t keep me away if you’re feeling like shit, Sora.” Riku placed a hand on Sora’s shoulder. “Now c’mon, let’s go see if Leon is there.”

Sora took a moment to stare at Riku, and with one of his goofiest smiles, he replied, “yeah!” Sora led Riku into his house, where they both took off their shoes and placed them to the side. Something filled in Sora’s stomach as he saw an extra pair of shoes by the front door. They were Leon’s.

Sora’s house was much smaller than most of the other houses, for someone as simple as Leon, he went with a house that was equally as simple. A single floored home. The door to the immediate left led to the master bedroom where Leon stays and immediately to his right is the small area for the kitchen. They didn’t have a dining area and just used the living room which basically shared the same space as the kitchen. It was one of those open-room styled houses. On the far right wall were three doors, the one closest to the back was Vanitas’, and the one in the middle was Soras’. The door closest to the kitchen was the bathroom.

Sora spotted Leon lounging on the couch watching TV as he ate a sandwich. He hadn’t even bothered to turn around to look at who had entered his house, and instead gave a casual “hey” to the pair.

“Leon! Happy birthday!” Sora yelled, running towards his older brother who seemed quite shocked by the sudden affection. “I almost completely forgot, and I’m suuuuuuper sorry I thought I had a few more days but apparently I didn’t and I really want to get a pet mouse so that I can name it Mickey but we can definitely talk about that later but I’m still really happy to see you and I miss you even though it’s literally only been like 4 days but you literally left right after and-”

“Nice to see you too, Sora.” Leon interrupted, ruffling Sora’s messy hair. “Also, you said you want a pet what now?”

“I said we can talk about it later because right now I’m just super happy to talk to you because I missed you-”

“What in the world is going on?” Leon asked, turning his attention to Riku, who shrugged in response. Leon placed his sandwich on the table right in front of him and turned to give Sora his full attention.

“I think he said he wanted a pet mouse so that he can name it Nikki.” Riku replied after a moment.

“Mickey!” Sora clarified.

“A pet mouse that you can name Mickey.” Leon repeated, “are _you_ going to be taking care of the mouse?”

“Of course! I’ve always wanted a pet mouse!”

“I’ll uh… I’ll think about it.” Leon mumbled, glancing back at the TV. “Have you seen Vanitas?”

“If he’s not in his room, I have no idea where he would be.”

“I assumed he’d probably be asleep, but I knocked on his door earlier and he never answered so… who knows.” Leon shrugged, “I was shocked when I realized you weren’t here either.”

“I’m so so sorry! If I remembered what today was, I would have been here.”

“Are you okay, Sora?” Leon asked, eyeing the young boy. “You look a little…”

Sora looked at Riku, then back at Leon, and sighed heavily. Leaning back in his seat so that he could get into a good position to talk to them both, “I went to talk to someone earlier…” Sora spoke up, looking at Riku to let him know that that’s why he left, “and… they told me that I’m probably depressed, but they don’t know for sure but there’s a good chance that I could be and I don’t know why so-”

“Wait what?” Riku asked.

“Depressed? What do you have to be depressed about?” Leon asked raising his eyebrow, “did Vanitas do something to you?”

“Vani and I barely even talk.” Sora mumbled. “And- I don’t know, they could be wrong and I could just be going through a rough time without really knowing about what’s rough in my life-”

“Is that why you want the pet mouse?”

“I always wanted a pet mouse, Riku.” Sora replied.

“How long have you been feeling like that? Like… this?” Leon questioned, grabbing Sora’s arm. “You haven’t done anything to yourself, have you?”

“What? No!” Sora pulled his arm back, “it’s not that bad. I just feel really confused about what I should be doing. I don’t know.” Sora shrugged, “I don’t really know when it _started_. It just _did_ one day.”

Leon let out a sigh, “why didn’t you call me or-” Leon froze once he heard his phone ring. He gave Sora a look, which the younger boy had assumed it was an apologetic one. “Shit…” He mumbled, “it’s SeeD. I gotta take this.” He added, quickly retreating to his room without letting the other two protest.

“Well… there’s that.” Sora sighed heavily. “Now you know, I guess?” He turned to look at Riku who had given him a look that was much more distant than usual. “Riku?”

“Depression huh? So it can hit someone like you.” Riku muttered, “that’s so strange to think.”

“We don’t really know if it actually _is_ or not. I’ve just been in a super weird rut and I never really knew what to do so I decided to go and talk to someone who could probably understand what I was getting at.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Riku questioned, his voice a lot quieter than usual. “Kairi or I could have helped you too. You can trust us.”

“I just didn’t think that you two would… iunno…” Sora stretched for words, “I didn’t think that you two would get it. You were happy too, and Kairi’s super happy now that she has her new kitten and-”

“Sora,” Riku interrupted, “I don’t know about Kairi, but I can’t have you being upset. If my best friend is upset, then I feel worse than I already do. I feel like I can’t help you even though I’ve been trying.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Why do you feel bad?”

“It’s not about me right now.” Riku stated, “if I can help you in any way, let me know, Sora. I _will_ help you.” He took a breath, “shit, I’d even get you the pet mouse if you really wanted it that badly.”

“Can you take me to Disneyland and get us matching hoodies so people know that if I get lost to find the other person with the same exact hoodie as me?” Sora asked with a soft smile.

Riku gave a little chuckle, “sure. I’ll even get you one of those stuffed animals from that cartoon that you really like. The Donald one.”

“Really?!”

“Sure.”

“Then- then I’ll get you Goofy! And we’ll switch because I _definitely_ want Goofy more than Donald but I’ll be super happy about it anyways!”

“So why don’t you just let me buy you Goofy?”

Sora froze, staring at the green eyes in front of him. “You know what, that makes sense.”

Riku let out another chuckle, “we can go after school starts back up because there’s bound to be less people. I think… _and_ it’ll be a way to celebrate that you’re going into your last year of high school and you’ll probably really be looking forward to it then.”

“Yes!” Sora grinned, “it’s a date!”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Hey, sorry about that Sora.” The pair turned their attention to Leon who had quickly left his room and shoved his phone into his pocket. “I need to go, but I should be back in a few days.”

“You’re leaving again?”

“Yeah. Apparently, we need to help SOLDIER, so…”

“Is Zack okay?!” Sora practically jumped from his spot on the couch. “Please tell me that Zack is okay!”

“He’s fine. It’s not his unit.” Leon clarified, “we’re just _helping_ them.”

“Are they in Lucis?” Riku asked.

“I don’t know about any of that.” Leon shook his head, “I don’t know who’s fighting in that war in Lucis.”

“It’s been years, and yet Lucis is still struggling.” Leon nodded at Riku’s comment. “Is Noctis ever going to be able to go back home?”

“Probably not.” Leon sighed, “last I heard, Lucis wasn’t doing too hot.”

“Damn…”

“No one has the guts to tell Noctis though. Gladio and Ignis seem to be keeping things under wrap. I think they’re probably the only ones that are really focused on taking care of things there.”

“I want to see Lucis one day.” Sora mumbled.

“A lot of us do.” Riku agreed. He turned his attention fully to Leon, “I’m guessing you really _gotta_ go?”

“Yeah. Like I said, it’s just a few days.”

“I’ll… miss you, Leon.” Sora whispered.

“Happy birthday, Leon.” Riku added.

“Take care guys. And you,” Leon looked to Riku with a stern stare, “make sure he’s okay, alright? I’ll call when I’m in a stable place.”

“Yeah.”

“Bye bro!”

* * *

The next day, Sora spent lounging around the house. He didn’t feel very energetic, and moving around would probably add onto his laziness. He laid on the couch watching the TV in front of him playing some random cartoons on Disney Channel. A sigh left his lips as he turned to get into a more comfortable position, adjusting the pillow under his head and the blanket over his body. There was a long series of silence from Sora as the TV continued to attempt to give him some sort of entertainment.

Sora froze, hearing the door to Vanitas’ room open. He turned to look at his brother who only stared lifelessly in response. “Vani? What are you doing?” Sora figured he’d ask, since there was a minute of silence and neither of them had moved.

“I thought you left.” Vanitas mumbled, “then I thought I was seeing a ghost.”

“I’m here, in the flesh and blood!”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“What are you up to?”

Vanitas shrugged, looking off to his left, “don’t know yet. Just gonna see where the day takes me.”

With that, Vanitas disappeared back into his room without another word. Sora sighed and nodded, going back to watch the TV. Another few hours were spent with Sora doing nothing but mindlessly watching Disney Channel’s classic cartoons. With minimum entertainment, he whispered, “one day I’ll get a mouse and name it after you, Mickey.”

There was another moment where Vanitas had once again walked out of his room, staring at Sora like he had done a few hours before. “You’re still here?” Vanitas asked with a hint of venom in his voice.

“I don’t have much else to do today.”

“Don’t you have school?”

“N-no?” Sora leaned up from his seat, “it doesn’t start until the very beginning of September.”

“Oh.”

Sora stared at his brother as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed something to eat out of the fridge. “D-did you talk to Leon yesterday? It was his birthday.”

“And? There’s way too many birthdays in August, I really don’t care.”

“He just turned… 22?”

“Congratz.” Sora heard Vanitas mumble as he stuffed his face with some food. “Glad you care so much about other people’s birth dates.”

“Why don’t you?”

“Does it matter when people are born? People that aren’t you? What’s the waste of time celebrating other people’s birthdays when more than half of those people aren’t going to care about yours.” Vanitas shrugged, slamming the refrigerator door shut. He turned around with a bowl in his hand, “I on the other hand, have never cared about birthdays. You know this. Mom knew this. Leon knows this.”

“Have you ever had a good birthday?”

“You ask me that same damn thing every year.” Vanitas groaned, “no. Even if I did, I don’t remember. I never cared.”

Sora sighed, nodding slowly. “Can I ask you a serious question?”

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. Sora and serious usually don’t mix with each other. “Sure?”

“Have you ever had depression?”

“What?” Vanitas’ voice hit a tone of confusion as he placed his bowl down on the counter, “why do you want to know something like that?”

“Because… there’s a good chance that I might _have_ depression. But we don’t really know yet so-”

“You know that depression isn’t really a thing that you would go around and gloat about, right?” Vanitas spoke, crossing his arms over his chest. “Who in the world told you that you _might_ have it? Was it a doctor?”

“N-no…”

“Who’s to say that person’s even right?” Vanitas asked, “there’s also that chance that you could have bipolar disorder, hypothyroidism, or something like chronic fatigue syndrome or whatever.”

“What are those? I’ve never heard of them-”

“Of course _you_ wouldn’t.” Vanitas shrugged, “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“But…” Sora sighed, “can you help me then? I don’t know what’s going on with me…”

“You don’t know what’s going on with you, so you think it’s depression?”

“Vani, please. Can you not joke around for like… 2 seconds?”

“I’m not joking around, Sora.” Vanitas grumbled, “I’m actually being serious. Because you think that, since you’re in such a bad mood, that suddenly it has to be depression? I’m guessing you got that from a reliable source then?”

Without a word, Sora sat up from his spot on the couch, turning off the TV and throwing his blanket off of his body. He looked around for his phone, and once he found it, he walked into the kitchen to stand in front of Vanitas. “Maybe _you’re_ the reason why I feel like this.” He whispered angrily. Without another word, and ignoring the protests from Vanitas to come back and talk to him, Sora threw on his shoes and ran out of the door, not even caring to lock it.

“Sora! Wait! We should talk!”

Sora ignored Vanitas’ words with tears forming in his eyes. Not knowing what else to do, he called the first person that came to mind.

_“Hello?”_ Sora felt a smile tug at his lips as he heard Riku’s voice on the other end. _“Sora?”_

“Can I come over?”

Sora heard a shuffle of some sort on the other end, then he heard Riku clear his throat, _“I’m uh… I’m not home right now, but I can drive over there.”_

“I’ll wait by the front door.” Sora mumbled, “please be quick.” He added.

_“Yeah. I’ll be there soon."_

Sora sighed making his way to Riku’s house, which he was thankful that it wasn’t too far away. He had hoped that Vanitas would _bother_ to make some sort of effort to come and find him, but it didn’t seem like he would. Peeking over his shoulder, before making the last turn to get onto Riku’s block, the last string of hope he had for his older brother broke. With tears still in his eyes, Sora sat on the front step with his head buried in his knees. He couldn’t stop his eyes from doing what they were doing, which scared him immensely.

What felt like forever, but possibly could have just been around twenty or thirty minutes, he looked up to see Riku parking his car. With a strained smile tugging at his face, he stood from his spot. “Hey, Riku…” He whispered once Riku was close enough to him.

Riku immediately grabbed Sora’s shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. Unsure of what to do, Sora began to cry once more. The longer he cried, the tighter Riku hugged him. They stood there for what once again felt like forever for Sora. Once Sora felt that he had gotten most of his emotions out, he pulled away from Riku, avoiding eye contact.

“Thank you.” He whispered, “I guess I needed to… let it out…”

“What happened?” Riku decided to ask as he reached to pet Sora’s hair. He ran his hands through the brown spikes and decided to speak once more, “were you at home?”

“I was talking to Vani but…” Sora shook his head, “I don’t know what it was, he just stressed me out.”

“I wish I knew how to help you more.” Riku admitted, “I truly wish I did.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to know.” Sora gave Riku a small smile, “I just wish I knew what this was.”  

“I don’t want to think about the fact that my best friend feels like absolute shit, and there’s literally nothing that I can do to help you. I don’t like that. I really hate it.” Riku huffed, “do you want to go somewhere? I don’t want to be in the house right now.”

“Where were you?”

“Nowhere important.”

Sora looked Riku up and down. He was familiar with how Riku dressed, which was usually a more professional or casual get up, but this time he actually looked _sloppy_. Like he had literally threw together an outfit at random to come and see him. Sora squinted at the unfamiliar shirt that Riku wore and soon looked up to meet the green eyes that were staring at him. “If you say so.”

“If you give me 10 or so minutes to get dressed properly, I’ll take you to go eat. How does that sound?”

“That… that sounds fine.”

“Alright, I’ll let you into the car and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Yeah…”

* * *

After spending around 2 hours with Riku, he suggested that they spend time with the Fujiwara household, which meant hanging out with Kairi and Axel, but Sora had offered to hang out with Roxas. He said something about not being able to see Roxas as much as he had wished, and Riku agreed. Without further ado, Riku parked in front of the Strife household and led Sora to the front door. Sora knocked on the door a few times and waited patiently for someone to open up.

“Hello?” Sora smiled as Roxas slowly opened the door. “Oh! Sora, Riku, hey!”

“Hey!” Sora tried his best to sound as happy as possible. Riku gave Sora a quick look, but decided to let it slide for the sake of not worrying Roxas.

“Hey Roxas, how are you?”

“Kind of stressed, but in a good way.” Roxas stepped out of the way to let the two into the house. “It’s really only me and Chocobo today. Cloud went missing not too long after Zack left for his job, and I think Ven is staying with Terra today?”

“Interesting.” Riku mumbled, taking off his shoes, “what about Prompto and Dem?”

“Hell if I know.” Roxas shrugged, “they weren’t here when I woke up so… I’m just gonna let them do their thing.”

“That’s fair. They’re brothers and all.” Riku agreed, “well, since we’re here… you got anything to do?”

“We have games? That’s all I can really think about- where did Sora go?” Roxas stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, looking around to see where the familiar messy brown hair was. “Where did he go? I wasn’t imagining him, was I?”

“No, I definitely came here with Sora.” Riku reassured the blonde, “maybe he just went into the bathroom or something? We just came back from eating so who knows?”

“Maybe…” Roxas mumbled, “you guys went on a date?”

“I wouldn’t… call it that.” Riku looked off to the side, “it was really just two friends hanging out.”

“Ah, yes, of course.”

There was a long and notably awkward silence as the pair waited for Sora to come back and give them something to talk about. After a minute or so, Sora came running down the stairs, fixing his hoodie. “Guys- so, I was looking in the kitchen, right? I found a carrot on the floor!” He yelled, pulling the carrot out of his pocket. “Look! Look! Was Chocobo eating this?”

“A carrot on the-” Roxas mumbled, looking at the small pen in the corner of the room where Chocobo was peacefully running around. “I don’t recall him being upstairs today. He’s been down here with me all day.”

“But the half eaten carrot.” Sora pressed, “it’s… _half_ eaten.”

“Sora, please put the carrot down.” Riku spoke up, “like, in the trash or something.”

Roxas sighed, “maybe just give it to Chocobo. Maybe he really was eating it but someone stopped him from doing it, or something.” Sora agreed and walked over to the small pen to put the carrot on the ground, catching Chocobo’s attention quickly. It didn’t take long for Chocobo to eat the carrot and run away to hide in his little home. “I guess he didn’t care if it was his or not.”

“You wanna know where I found it?” Sora repeated.

“Didn’t you say it was on the floor?”

Sora looked at Riku, then to Roxas with a cheeky grin, “it was in the fridge and I took it out and started eating it, but then I decided that I didn’t want to eat the carrot, so I pretended it was on the floor, so now Chocobo is eating my carrot.”

“How devious.” Riku said with a small smile.

“What a criminal.” Roxas agreed, placing his hands on his hips playfully. “We should arrest you for that. Maybe you should be the one in the pen, and not Chocobo.”

“Oh no! Please don’t!”

Riku and Roxas shared a glance and suddenly began laughing at the slightly concerned brunette, who felt his own laugh bubbling up. Soon, the trio were laughing at the goofy scenario that just happened. After the moment passed, Roxas cleared his throat and shook his head, “yeah, but… if you go missing again I’m actually going to put you on a leash and leave you in that pen, don’t ever do that again.”

“Haha!” Sora chuckled out, “yeah! Okay!”

The trio decided to situate themselves on the couch, Roxas on the right, Sora in the middle, and Riku on the left, closest to the pen. They originally spent some time watching random shows on TV to have a good laugh. At some point, Sora had suggested that they play some games since he had been watching TV for most of the day already.

As the trio engulfed themselves into playing games, Roxas heard a familiar sound pulling into the garage. Pausing the game, Sora and Riku looked at one another in confusion, waiting for Roxas to explain. “It’s Cloud.” Roxas answered after a moment.

“Cloud?”

“I guess he’s been working on his motorcycle lately, and ever since Zack left, he hasn’t had much else to do but… work on it.” Roxas shrugged, “I’m worried and I wanted to help him at one point, but he definitely didn’t appreciate me asking him if I could help, so he pushed me out of the garage and said that I should do something else with my day.”

“He _pushed_ you?” Riku repeated.

“Yeah, not a hard push that would you know… hurt me physically. But it definitely did hurt mentally. I feel like the only person that Cloud thought he could rely on was Zack and after the whole ring situation that he had with Zack, he’s been really put off by dealing with people.”

“Would you… say that there’s a good chance that Cloud’s-”

“Cloud has _always_ been depressed, if you haven’t noticed. The constant drinking should have been the main issue.” Roxas interrupted, “I don’t know when it started. But, I know it has to do with his last time talking to Sephiroth. Or, I should say it’s gotten worse ever since he last talked to Sephiroth.”

“Wow, so even people like Cloud can be like that?”

“What do you mean?” Roxas raised an eyebrow as he turned to Sora, “what do you mean by _people like that_ , Sora?”

“I-”

“Should we check on Cloud? Make sure he doesn’t need anything? It sounds like he’s not planning on leaving the garage any time soon.” Riku interrupted Sora, placing a hand on Sora’s shoulder. Roxas gave a confused look at the action, but decided to ignore it.

“He probably isn’t going to leave for another few hours. So I mean, I guess we can bring him some water or a sandwich or something.” Roxas shrugged once more, “c’mon, I’ll take you to the back.”

The pair followed Roxas behind the staircase where they found an unusual door that led to a second set of stairs leading down. Riku instantly remembered that in Ventus’ room, there’s a wall along the back that has a small indent where he keeps the pen for Chocobo whenever he needs to be left in a safe place. The rest of that wall, Ventus had told them led to the outside, but you couldn’t get to it from his room. There was a door to the left of his, but he chose not to ever use it because it was behind the stairs leading upstairs and it made him feel like Harry Potter in a way.

After reaching the bottom of the stairs, Roxas opened the door leading to the garage, where they found Cloud wiping down his motorcycle. Cloud froze and stared at the trio for a long moment before mumbling, “you three should go back upstairs.”

“Cloud, we wanted to give you this.” Roxas spoke, handing over a bottle of water to the older blonde who took it cautiously. “We also wanted to check up on you. If that’s alright.”

Cloud stood from his spot, placing the cloth on the seat of the motorcycle, “you’ve checked up on me and Fenrir, you can leave now.”

“The- you named it Fenrir?” Sora spoke quite loudly, “I never knew it had a name.”

There was a long silence, where the trio took it as Cloud agreeing with Sora’s comment. Riku sighed and took a step forward, “I know Sephiroth talks to you a lot, but… what did he tell you last?”

In a split second, Riku could see Cloud’s face contort into one of disgust, but it soon went back to normal. Cloud handed Riku the water bottle with force and muttered, “get out of here. All three of you.”

“I want to know what Sephiroth said.” Riku repeated, “you don’t need to keep it all to yourself. You should be able to trust us as much as you trust Zack-”

“Get _out_.” Cloud spoke sternly, pointing to the door.

Roxas sighed, turning to head to the door, “c’mon guys… Cloud isn’t going to be much help to you right now.” Sora nodded slowly, pulling Riku with him as they began to leave.  

“And if you decide to bring me a drink, at least make it alcohol.” Cloud spoke loud enough for the three to hear. Roxas made a sound of anger and shut the door behind them.

“He’s been going back and forth with his emotions ever since his birthday passed.” Roxas spoke after they reached the top of the stairs. He chose to lock the door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. “It hasn’t even been a week and he’s already broken, basically.”

“In 5 days, he went from that happy Cloud that was basically in tears hearing Dem and Axel sing to him… to… _this_?” Riku spoke, “Zack left 3 days ago, there’s no way. There’s just absolutely no way.”

“There’s a total way, and he’s absolutely done it.” Roxas shrugged. “I try to help him, but all he does is push me away. The only person that I know he’s _talked_ to normally is Ven, and Ven _really_ wants to stay with Terra right now.”

“Why not you?” Sora questioned.

“No idea.” Roxas let out a sigh, “c’mon, let’s go play more games or something. I’m stressed and I really wanna kill some zombies.”

* * *

During their next series of games, the trio heard Fenrir starting up, and within seconds, Cloud had driven off again. After another hour of gaming, Sora and Riku had decided it was getting late, and it was time for them to leave.

Hopping into Riku’s car, Sora sank in the seat while he slowly put on his seatbelt. Riku decided not to ask about the mood initially, but as it lasted up until the point where Riku had pulled up to Sora’s house and he was still mopey, Riku turned off the car and kept the doors locked. “Sora.” Riku spoke up, “what’s wrong?”

“It’s…” Sora glanced over to Riku, “really weird. To think that people can have so many problems universally.”

“You’re talking about Cloud?”

“It makes me sad, really.”

“...” Riku looked at the wheel, looking at the insignia for the type of car. He ran his left hand over the small emblem and glanced back to Sora, “what would make you… happy?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve really never felt this way before.”

“Maybe you’re just in a slump. It happens to people sometimes when they’re not sure of what to do with themselves.”

“Maybe…”

There was a long silence. Both boys had no idea what to say to each other. Sora had turned his attention to the window on his side, looking at his home. He took note that all of the lights were off. _Guess Leon really is gonna be out for a few more days._ He laid his forehead against the window and sighed.

Riku had leaned back in his seat, keeping his eyes trained on his best friend. “Remember that date that I promised you?”

Sora slowly nodded, his forehead rubbing up and down the window. “Yeah.”

“Would it…” Riku paused for a moment, “would it feel more special for you if it was an actual date?”

Sora adjusted his head so that he could look at Riku, “huh?”

“I’m asking you out, Sora.” Riku stated clearly, “would you feel happier if you were my boyfriend?”

“Wait- what?” Sora sat so that he could fully face Riku now, “you want to go out with me?” He felt his stomach turn in every which way, unsure of what to say. “Y-you… you’re asking me out?”

“Yes.”

Sora felt the heat rise to his face as he tried to find the right words, “I-... w-... I-I’ve always… I’ve never thought of you that way.”

“I didn’t either, until recently.”

“Recently?”

“I want to make you happy again, Sora.” Riku clarified, “I really do. And right now, this is the only way that I know how to. So, please…”

“Okay.” Sora nodded slowly, “yeah… okay.”

“You’ll go out with me?”

“Y-yeah.”

Riku gave Sora a comforting smile, one that made Sora feel the butterflies in his stomach as he eyed those turquoise eyes. Those same turquoise eyes that seemed to dim unless they looked at him. Those same turquoise eyes that still looked so pained even if he was happy. “You should uh-” Riku started, pointing at the door to Sora’s house, “I think Vanitas is waiting for you.”

“Huh?” Sora shook his head and followed Riku’s finger aimed towards his house. He felt his heart drop as he saw Vanitas standing by the front door with the light on. He stood leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. “Oh, yeah…” Sora sighed, “can you unlock the door then? I should get going.”

“Yeah.” Riku said, pressing a button on his left. He watched Sora slowly unbuckle his seat-belt and open the door. “Hey, Sora?” Riku called before Sora could close the door behind him.

“Yeah?”

“I’m looking forward to our date.”

“M-me too.” Sora gave Riku a warm smile, one that Riku returned as he went to turn on his car. Sora waved as he watched Riku drive off, and once the familiar black car was out of view, Sora turned to Vanitas. He slowly walked towards his older brother, refusing to make eye contact.

“Welcome home, princess.” Vanitas whispered as Sora passed by him. He locked the front door and waited for Sora to take off his shoes and make his way into the living room before speaking again, “enjoyed your day out?”

“Do you ever leave this house?” Sora asked sharply. “It doesn’t seem like you do.”

“You want to know what I do all day?”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Vanitas feigned a gasp, albeit he was quite shocked that Sora had become so sassy in just a few hours. “What crawled up your ass?”

“Nothing.” Sora muttered, reaching for the drawstrings on his hoodie, “you never wanted to talk to me earlier, so I don’t see why you’re doing it now.”

“Huh, maybe I felt bad for treating you like shit earlier.” Vanitas shrugged, “I guess I was worried for nothing.”

“You? Worried?”

“No.” Vanitas let out a chuckle, “like hell I’d be worried about someone like you.”

“I figured as much.” Sora whispered. He decided to go straight to his room so he wouldn’t give Vanitas any other ideas on ways to bother him. Upon opening up his door, he noticed an unusual glass like cage placed on his bed. Sora closed the door behind him, walking quickly up to the unusual cage to inspect it. Sora saw a small note to the left, and a headband with mouse ears on the right. Slowly picking up the note, he read it out loud:

_“I like mice too. Leon isn’t fond of them so I never said._

_I don’t really care what Leon says though, he’s barely home._

_But this is for you, his name is Mickey._

_Just like you wanted._

_~ Vanitas”_

With tears forming, Sora looked back to the glass cage to see a small black mouse running around. Without thinking, Sora whispered, “thank you, Vani.” As he watched the small mouse play on a wheel. “Thank you so much…”


	5. Two Steps Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're back to the Fair Household, and Noctis is living his life trying to be the best kid that he can be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This arc IS Noctis' arc, but I feel like the way I've written it focuses on some of the other characters a little more. This specific arc and the next arc are both 12 chapters long, so we're almost halfway through part one!
> 
> Also, this chapter is a little in the feels, but not too much.

Back at the Fair household, Noctis laid on his self-proclaimed couch once more. Sometime the day before, Noctis had noticed Terra making the effort to vigorously scrub down the furniture, walls, wipe down the electronics, everything. Smelling the familiar scent of cleaning products, Noctis made a plan that he’d make sure to sleep on his couch once again. And so, there he lay, lazily draped across the couch with his arm dangling off the edge. At some point, Umbra had come to give him an affectionate lick, which he ignored in order to focus on the TV.

He was watching a fishing channel.

According to Terra, the channel had either been very new or the household had never channel searched long enough to find out if there really was a channel like that. As far as Noctis was concerned, Lucis never had a channel like this, and he was perfectly content with watching it.

His eyes were trained on the TV, watching the man reel in various types of fish from all over the world. It was some show that had gone on for years, and has still been regularly recorded as Noctis could tell that the man was becoming visibly older as the episodes went by. He felt a smile pull on his lips as he recalled in one of the previous episodes that the older man had a dream to catch the Vesper Gar. The same fish that Noctis had also planned to reel in one day.

Watching the man travel from place to place had been amazing for Noctis. He felt like he was traveling with the man. The mans’ TV show didn’t feel at all like a _show_ , but like a _vlog_ , in a way. He went through the step-by-step directions on how to catch certain fish and he had shared his excitement about how he loved taking care of some other fish. He even mentioned that he would soon love to take a trip to Eos, in order to search around Galdin Quay to find some of the amazing fish they had in their waters.

Hearing this, Noctis’ satisfied mood had turned sour. He wasn’t allowed to even go to Eos on his own, and even though he knew this, he still _wanted_ to. When his father had forced him to live with Zack and the Fair household, he had explained to Noctis that even his car would have to be hidden away. Ignis and Gladio had insisted they take the car to keep it safe and would bring it back to Noctis when the time was right.

He missed the Regalia more than anything. It had been 4 years now since he had been able to see the car. The Regalia was and still is the only thing that connected him to his own father. Being able to drive it would satisfy him enough. Noctis knew it was safe, he knew there was no need to worry. He knew Ignis and Gladio would keep it safe.

Noctis sat up from his spot on the couch, pulling his knees close to his chest as he continued to watch the TV. The man had gone on a tangent about how much he would love to see Eos, apparently from mentioning it before. Noctis tried his best to keep his focus on the man’s words, but his mind continued to travel back to Lucis. His dad. His car. His home. He had been forced away from his home for 4 years, and no one seemed to care much about it.

Or if they did, they never vocalized it around him.

Umbra at some point found himself sitting next to Noctis, giving the raven supportive nuzzles on his arm as a way to tell Noctis that he was still here for him. Noctis gave Umbra a soft smile, and went to pet his best animal friend.

“I want to go to Eos too.” Noctis whispered to Umbra. “Maybe one day, right? When it’s safer?”

Umbra barked happily, wagging his tail as he leaned into Noctis’ pets. Noctis couldn’t bring himself to stop petting Umbra, so they spent what felt like hours on the couch comforting each other. All though it was really Umbra that was comforting Noctis, and Noctis was grateful for it.

Once 2pm hit, Xion came bursting through the front door, a grin plastered on her face. She hurried to take off her shoes, threw her hoodie on the ground and ran to Noctis to shove a piece of paper in his face. Umbra jumped off the couch to avoid Xion’s motions, and gave Noctis a concerned look as he ran to hide.

“Noctis! Look at _this!_ ” Xion continued to shove the paper in Noctis’ face. Slowly, Noctis reached to take the paper from the girl, looking the paper up and down quickly. Once he had processed what he saw, his eyes lit up for the slightest of seconds, one of which Xion had almost missed, and began to read the contents out loud.

_"Calling all fishermen and women alike._

_This year, we are trying something different before the students go back to school._

_On August 30th, we are hosting a fish off!_

_We will be accepting applications for anyone who wishes to fish!_

_The fish off will happen throughout all of Radiant Garden!_

_We may even be able to expand to different cities depending on how many enter!_

_Contact us at the number down below if you have any questions!_

_See you there!”_

“A… _fish off_?” Noctis repeated after re-reading the paper silently. “What the hell is a fish off?”

“Exactly as it says- look! It’s for fishermen and women, and it’s for people who want to fish!” Xion pointed at specific parts of the paper, “you can’t tell me you don’t want to do this!”

“Pass.” Noctis mumbled, handing the paper back to Xion, “why would I want to do something like that?”

“Because you love to fish, Noctis.”

“Yeah, but that’s not for _me_.”

“Noctis!” Xion yelled, “you _love_ fishing. You  _watch_ this dude fish every day! You challenge your friends all the time to go fishing with you!”

“Yeah, that’s my _friends_ though. This is different.”

“Then let’s compete. Let’s have a fishing battle.” Xion leaned forward with the paper still facing Noctis, “me, you and all of our friends. Let’s all apply and fish!”

Noctis gave Xion a look of uncertainty, “there’s… something about this that just doesn’t sit right with me, Xion.”

“Oh now you want to have intuitions?” Xion huffed, “fine. We won’t do it then. I thought you’d love it because it’s on your birthday and it’s fishing and all.”

“It’s on my birthday?” Noctis asked with his voice pitched a little higher than usual. He took the paper back from Xion and re-read it once more. “How did I miss that?”

“Were you planning something special for your birthday?”

“I was uh…” Noctis rubbed the back of his head, “Luna and I were going to go on a date for my birthday.” He glanced at the paper once more, “I can’t say that I _wouldn’t_ want to go fishing, but Luna isn’t the fishing type of person.”

“I’m sure if you told her that you wanted to go fishing for a few hours, she’d understand.” Xion tried to reason, “besides, why would she tell _you_ that _you_ can’t do something on _your_ birthday?”

Noctis nodded slowly, “I guess you’re right…” He looked up and down on the paper, letting his eyes linger on the advertisement picture of a person reeling in a fish from the water. Noctis gave a small smile, running his finger over the inked picture, “but,” Noctis handed the paper back off to Xion. “I’m okay with spending the day with Luna. I’m fine with fishing any day.”

“You’d really give up something that you want, to have a date with a person that you don’t know how you feel about?” Xion asked, “at times like this, we need Zack.”

“He’ll be back before you know it.” Noctis mumbled, looking off to the side. He glanced at the TV, then at the remote, and in a swift motion, used the remote to turn off the TV. He stood and sighed, “if you decide to go fishing though, let me know how it goes, okay?” He added as he made an effort to walk past Umbra to go upstairs.

“You’d really give up something that you love, to date Luna?” Xion repeated, but this time it was more to herself than to Noctis.

* * *

Two days had passed since that conversation. Albeit, the conversation had never actually died down. Xion had tried to convince Noctis multiple times upon their meetings to ask if he had changed his mind. Noctis however had reassured her that his plan to be with Luna was perfectly fine for him. He had one thing that he was happy about, and that was Luna.

Xion wasn’t too fond of Noctis being as stubborn as he was, and she initially turned to try and call Zack. However, the calls never seemed to go through, probably do to some shitty phone signal. She soon turned her attention to Terra, who put his hands up in defense and insisted that Xion just let him be. She at some point had even turned to Ventus, who was spending his days with Terra. Cornering him in their kitchen as he tried to make himself a sandwich, Xion aggressively slammed her hand on the refrigerator to get his attention.

“You know things about brooding losers that don’t know how to do the things that they want to do because they don’t want to upset others.” Xion stated clearly, eyeing the concerned and rather startled blonde right next to her. Ventus glanced around the room, making sure that Noctis wasn’t in the living room just a few feet away, and Xion slammed at the refrigerator once more to get the blonde’s attention.

“I-” Ventus started, “I have no idea how to deal with brooding people, Xion. You gotta believe me.” He placed his unfinished sandwich on the counter in front of him and turned to give Xion his full attention. “Cloud is a wreck, Roxas is turning mopey because he found out about Sora and Riku… Prompto’s barely in our house anymore, and Demyx disappears right with him. I _don’t_ know how to deal with brooding people.”

“Then help me.” Xion spoke, “help me make sure that Noctis gets the birthday that he _deserves_.”

“What type of birthday is that?”

“There’s a fishing competition that’s on his birthday, and I was going to fill out an application for him, but, Noctis just wants to spend his birthday going on a weird stupid date with Luna. Which I’m pretty sure would be magical and beautiful because they’re two people with money, _but_ , that’s not what Noctis should have. He _should_ have his birthday party doing something that he _loves_.”

“And _you_ want to force him to do something that he loves, and not something that he _wants_ to do?” Ventus clarified.

“Well if you put it that way, it sounds like a horrible idea.” Xion mumbled, “but yes, basically.”

“Let Noctis make his own choices.” Ventus stated, “you can even try asking Luna how she would feel about the fishing competition thing too.”

“His birthday is in-” Xion thought for a moment, counting on her fingers, “4 days and he isn’t even going to spend his 21st birthday doing something that he loves.”

“Why don’t you plan something else for him?” Ventus questioned, “like, before he goes off with Luna, just hang out with him out by the water or something?”

“He’s spent 4 years here, and each one of those years he spent _here_ he’s spent going and doing the same thing. Noctis has only ever gone on dates with Luna, it’s like he’s afraid to do something that he really loves.”

Ventus eyed Xion, trying to find a way to read into her words. “Do you think that Luna holds him back?”

“Maybe.” Xion shrugged. “If she has him doing this super _stable_ thing of just dating and going out on bogus dates every time his birthday or her birthday comes around, then someone’s holding the other person back.” She explained, “Noctis looked _happy_ when I showed him that flier. Those dumb little eyes of his was actually _excited_. Like he _wanted_ to do this. Why would he ever turn down anything having to do with fishing? It’s the one thing that he really loves.”

“Maybe you could give him some time?” Ventus asked, “maybe he’s just not too sure himself. Maybe he just needs time to really think about things.”

“Or,” Xion started, putting a finger up to Ventus’ face, “maybe he just needs a push,” she poked Ventus’ nose, “in the right direction.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh _yeah_.”

* * *

Noctis once again sat on the couch. He knew Xion had left to go and talk to _someone_ , which he had assumed was just one of her friends. Of course, Noctis really didn’t care. It gave him some time to relax on his own without having to hear her yell at him for not embracing his happiness and choosing to go fishing, or something strange like that. He curled up, pulling his knees close to his chest as he wrapped his arms around his legs and placed his head on his knees.

Umbra at some point had decided it was probably best to lay down on the ground right in front of him, curled up into a ball, sleeping soundly. Noctis had turned on the TV almost immediately after sitting down and had changed the channel back to his favorite fishing channel. Probably the only one that existed. Noctis felt a small smile tug at his lips as he watched the man grin and laugh about how he wanted to eat one of the fish in the sea.

The man was disappointed at the size of the fish he was catching in this episode. He promised the viewers that he would catch some bigger fish before the end of the episode, and he even put out his pinkie on camera to make it seem like he was actually trying to make a pinkie promise to the viewers. Noctis nodded as if though he was personally with the man, and he felt a sense of happiness bubble up inside him as he recalled how he, Prompto, Gladio and Ignis would spend time in Lucis fishing at random places. Even though the guys hated it, they’d keep him company.

Noctis let out a sigh, trying his best to keep his limbs as close to him as possible. He felt his eyes close as he heard the man talking about different types of fish he liked to catch, and types of fish that he liked to feed to animals. It didn’t take too long before Noctis’ brain completely blocked out the voice. He had fallen asleep.

He didn’t know when, but he knew to keep his eyes closed when he had woken.

Terra was in a conversation with Zack, who Noctis was shocked to hear his voice so soon, Gladio and Ignis. Nothing about the conversation seemed easy-going. They all sounded distressed, and Noctis felt something in his heart that was telling him something didn’t seem right.

“I really think we shouldn’t be talking about this with Noct right _here_.” Noctis heard Zack say. He felt like the older man was probably pointing in his direction.

“We should tell him, even if we don’t want to.”

The moment Noctis heard Ignis speak in a serious tone, he was instantly even more concerned than before.

What was so important that he needed to know?

“Look, Zack… we really don’t want to give him the news but, someone has to.” Gladio talked next.

“Then let me do it. I’ll talk to Noct and make sure that he’s okay.”

“Zack, I appreciate you wanting to help, but… I feel that this is something Gladio and _I_ need to tell him.”

“This is the worst timing.” Noctis heard a hint of pain in Zack’s voice. It was something rare that he had almost never heard before. “I still think that-”

“We don’t want to do this either.” Gladio spoke up again.

“I don’t even think I want to hear it, honestly.” He heard Terra speak up, “this is going to hurt him way too much.”

Noctis heard shuffling from what could have been the kitchen to where he was. He felt the heat from someone standing close enough to him, until the familiar fragrance hit his nose. Ignis. He felt Ignis’ hand land on his arm as he slowly began to shake. Pretending that he was still asleep, Noctis feigned waking up, stretching and yawning. “Ignis?”

“Noctis, I wish I was here for good news, but we need to talk to you.” Ignis spoke, “come over here.” He added, aiding Noctis off of his spot on the couch and over to the small dining room just a few steps away. Ignis offered a seat to Noctis and sighed as he placed his hands on the back of the chair.

“What’s…” Noctis felt his curiosity peak from hearing the conversation not too long ago, “what’s going on?”

“Noct.” Gladio sighed, “it’s really nice to be able to see you again.”

“Y-yeah.” Noctis nodded, “I missed you guys.”

“We’ve been working on protecting Lucis as much as we could.” Gladio answered, “Ignis and I were on a secret mission that we really couldn’t tell most people about. We’ve been _helping_ Shinra in the background, but most of that has been because of… well…”

“They wanted us specifically to look after Lucis. We were two of the only people that really could.” Ignis helped, “so, a few days ago we went over to Lucis.” Ignis gripped onto the chair that Noctis sat in, trying his best not to look the raven in the eyes as he continued to speak. “It’s in turmoil, currently. Lucis is in the worst condition that it has ever seen. They’re still looking for you, and… we saw the king.”

“My dad?” Noctis’ voice was filled with wonder, “how was he?”

Ignis looked at Gladio with a pained look in his eyes. Gladio sighed and crossed his arms over his chest as he did his best to make eye contact with Noctis. Zack had adjusted in his spot, placing his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. Terra had his arms crossed on the table, looking down at the patterns on the table quietly. Noctis looked around the room, unsure of how to read the air.

“How… how was he?” Noctis repeated.

“T-the king is…” Ignis tried to finish, but Noctis knew where it was going. Noctis felt the tears stinging his eyes as they threatened to fall. He felt the pain and anxiety grow in his stomach as his body felt chills. “He’s…” He heard Ignis try again.

“He’s dead.” Noctis spoke in between a few deep breaths. “I get it.”

“Noct…” Zack looked up, placing his hands on the table. “Once I found out, I had to go to Lucis. And when I went, I got this.” Noctis watched Zack dig into his pocket for a small box. Noctis instantly recognized the box and felt the tears fall out of his eyes. “I think… I think you know what this is.”

“The… the ring of Lucis…”

“It came with a note. It was directed to anyone that could have possibly been there that knew where you were. I’m pretty sure it was written by your dad but-” Zack felt his throat tighten up, “it was his goodbye for you.”

Noctis’ hands shook as he reached out to grab the small box. Anxiety hitting him as he opened the box staring at the contents inside. He quickly closed the box and whispered to himself. He could barely see the ring, the box, or anything in front of him. The tears fell like a waterfall. He sighed, wiping his face slowly. “I… I can’t believe I-”

“Noctis, let us know what to do to help you.” Terra spoke, reaching out to Noctis. “We’ll do our best to help you.”

“I didn’t even get to say _goodbye_.” Noctis whispered. “The last time I talked to him… 4 years ago… I acted like- like… I acted like I didn’t care what he had to say to me. I hated that he wanted me gone. I hated that he felt I couldn’t help him. I wanted to stay home, but- I… I pretended. I pretended. I… _I pretended_.”

“Noctis, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s _not_.” Noctis shook his head, throwing the box onto the table, “it’s not okay Terra. This is the fucking worst thing that has ever happened to me and-” Noctis rubbed his eyes, “I hate this.”

“Noct-” Terra started up again, grabbing the box to make sure Noctis didn’t attempt to damage it.

“I want to be left alone.” Noctis muttered, pushing his chair and Ignis back. “I’m going to my room.” He announced, walking up the stairs with heavy stomps. Umbra had jumped up from his hiding spot and followed Noctis quickly up the flights of stairs.

Zack turned to Gladio and Ignis, letting Terra hold onto the box for safe keeping. “What should we do?” Zack mumbled shaking his head. “This is horrible, I didn’t want to have to come back to _this_.”

“There’s nothing we could have done. The king was already dead when Gladio and I had arrived.” Ignis pointed his thumb over to Gladio, “we were also hurt with the news, I couldn’t believe it.”

Terra groaned, “we also could have probably handled this a bit better. We know how Noctis is, and we knew why he left. Or rather, why he _had_ to leave. Lucis was in turmoil and now that the king is dead, we _know_ they’re going to try their best to find Noctis. Regardless of anything, we _have_ to keep Noctis safe.”

Gladio nodded, “I’d leave it to Zack, but I feel like even he won’t be enough.”

“I’d let you guys stay here, but the guest rooms are on the top floor with Noct.” Zack mumbled, “he probably wouldn’t feel to happy about having you guys so close to him right now.”

“You _could_ just give them your room and you could go sleep with Cloud.” Terra suggested with a subtle smirk.

“Now’s not the time for that, Terra.” Zack muttered, “we can probably find you guys a place close by? It’d be nice to know you guys were closer than you were before.”

“We also have Iris.” Ignis added, “Gladio has been making sure she stayed safe, so it wouldn’t be just the two of us.”

“That’s fine too. I can help you guys find a place around here.” Zack offered, “hell, there’s some pretty nice apartments that I found at some point.”

“An apartment would be fine by me.” Ignis nodded.

“Doesn’t matter to me.” Gladio shrugged, “I just want to make sure that Iris is okay.”

“Yeah, that’s understandable.” Zack agreed.

“Doesn’t this mean that _we’re_ in danger, Zack?” Terra asked, “with Xion running around all crazy and letting her friends talk about Noctis or whatever, they’ll find him in no time.”

Zack sighed reaching to take the ring box from Terra, who handed it over without much thought. Zack held onto the box and stared at the insignia for a moment. “We’re going to need to talk to a _lot_ of people.”

* * *

And so, the next morning Zack had spent half an hour or so calling people up to come to his house. He told Terra early on that he was in charge of opening up the door while Zack took charge of making sure he called everyone that had had some close contact to Noctis within the last 4 years to come over. For a while, Zack had hesitated to call the Strife household, because he knew Cloud would either ignore the call all together, or only choose to ask about him.

Both of those things had happened. Zack was forced to call twice, and while the other blonde Strife kids were downstairs chatting with their friends, Cloud sat on his bed with his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs. Zack sighed as he placed his phone into his back pocket, and turned to Cloud who had been waiting patiently for some time. “Hey, Spike?” Zack called to get the blonde’s attention.

“Yeah?”

“You doing okay? You’re usually not like this.” Zack asked, placing his hands on his hips. He knew Cloud had his moments of intense brooding, but he usually was never like _this_. Something felt off to Zack, but he didn’t have much time to really focus on Cloud, nor did he have enough patience. This whole ordeal with Noctis had gotten him very anxious, and last night he couldn’t even manage to go to sleep without doing a countless amount of squats.

“I’m fine.” Cloud answered simply, “why?”

“No reason,” Zack lied, “we need to go downstairs though. I think everyone should be down there and we all _really_ need to talk.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Cloud nodded, standing from his spot on the bed. Zack gave Cloud a soft smile and led him out of his room. The duo soon walked down the stairs and were greeted with a large group of people chatting with one another. Zack had caught sight of Angeal, and pointed for Cloud to join his brothers so that he could talk to Angeal for a moment.

“Zack.” Angeal greated, “what’s this all about?”

“Noct.” Zack answered simply.

“How’s he doing?”

“I wish I could say he’s doing well, but I haven’t seen him since last night. I know he’s still in his room because he locked Umbra out and Umbra _refuses_ to move from his spot.” Zack groaned, “I tried to take Umbra to go outside earlier, and he protested the whole way. So… I’m not too sure what to do, but I know this is important to tell the rest of you.”

“You should probably get to telling us all what’s going on then.” Angeal tilted his head towards the group in Zack’s living room, standing around.

Zack nodded slowly, feeling the stress hit him once more. He tried to give a comforting goofy smile to Angeal, though the older man knew how he felt. Zack wasn’t particularly fond of doing speeches in front of large groups, but he could do it if given the time to prepare properly. Walking to the front of the group, he passed by Terra, Gladio and Ignis who gave him supportive nods. With a big sigh, Zack placed his hands on his hips and cleared his throat loud enough to catch the group’s attention. “Hey guys!” He greeted.

“What’s going on Zack?” Tifa chose to ask first.

“Uh, well… nothing good.” Zack gave a sheepish smile, “in fact, it’s pretty bad. You see, I was forced to come back from my mission a little earlier than I was supposed to, and… the reason behind that is... “ Zack’s smile began to fade from his face, “Nocts’ dad is dead.”

There were a large amount of whispers and gasps filling the room.

“The condition of Lucis is terrible, like… _really_ terrible. Gladio, Ignis and I were in charge of going to find the king to make sure he was still alive. He… was not. So, we know that since whomever was attacking Lucis has retreated, there’s a good chance that they’re searching for Noctis.”

“Where is Noctis?” Luna spoke up next.

“He’s upstairs. Umbra is watching over him right now.” Zack reassured Luna, “but, until further notice, it’s probably better that we keep Noct’s location more lowkey than we usually would. It’s probably not a secret anymore that Noct _has_ been living in the city, but… we can’t have whomever’s chasing Noct to be able to find him, and we _definitely_ don’t want them to be able to find him quickly. So, what I’m asking is for everyone to do their best and not put Noct on social media.” Zack eyed Kairi who gave an awkward smile.

“To be fair!” Kairi interjected, “I haven’t put him on my livestreams in a while!”

“Let’s keep that down to a _never_.” Terra replied.

“But the viewers want to know!”

“Kai, it’s probably worse that you’re even telling your viewers _about_ Noct.” Terra answered, earning an agreeing thumb from Zack.

“Fine, I won’t talk to them about Noct anymore.”

“Though I am worried about letting Noct out of the house, I can’t keep him holed up in here, he’d probably go crazy.” Zack continued, “though he’d probably just spend most of his time sleeping.” He added, earning a few chuckles. “But anyway, even though Nocts’ birthday is in what, 2 days? 3?”

“3.” Terra confirmed.

“Jeez, that’s way too soon.” Zack shook his head, “let’s try to keep him out of those fancy things that Radiant Garden likes to throw yearly.”

“Wait!” Xion interrupted, “there’s a fishing competition that’s happening on his birthday that I wanted him to be a part of!”

“Probably best to keep him out of that list.” Zack replied.

“No way! I _know_ Noct really wanted to go fishing.” Xion refused.

“Noct was going to be with me on his birthday.” Luna spoke up, “he never said anything about fishing.”

“Well- he uh… it didn’t- he didn’t-”

“Xion was going to force him to do the fishing competition.” Ventus spoke up, “I told her it was a bad idea.”

“Noctis turned down the idea because he said that something about it didn’t feel right.” Xion added, “I just figured he was pretending he didn’t want to compete because he was going to be with Luna.”

“He told you he didn’t trust the competition?” Zack repeated, “to turn down fishing?” Zack felt his brain working a mile a minute as he thought of multiple possibilities. “I see.”

“Zack?” Ignis spoke next, “is everything alright?”

“Yeah.” Zack nodded, “I just wanted to ask you guys to make sure that you help us keep Noct safe. Make sure none of you guys tell random information to people you don’t know, things like that.” He thought for another second, “I’ll talk to Noct and make sure he’s okay.”

“Is Noct still going to go to school?” Prompto asked, his voice filled with worry. “I’d hate for this to stop him.”

“You just don’t want to be without your best friend.” Gladio teased.

“That too!”

“I’ve made a plan to be able to make sure that Noct is able to go to school without worrying too much.” Ignis spoke, “I’ll be there with the two of you until further notice.”

“Does that mean we have to hang out with Noctis in secret?” Sora asked, grabbing onto Riku’s arm. “I always liked going out to hang out with Noctis!”

“Let’s refrain from doing that unless he has some sort of security with him, okay?” Zack offered as an option. “I would never want to stop Noct from having fun with his friends, but I just want to make sure he’s _safe_ from any sort of danger.”

“So then… my date with Noctis…” Luna muttered, “what’s to come of it?”

“Just let the guy stay in his room.” Stella spoke, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’ll just be a hassle if you try to take him out on your own. I don’t want you to be put in danger because of him.”

“I believe the person in the most amount of danger would be Zack. Maybe not even _just_ Zack, but his family as well.” Luna frowned, “if I would be able to keep Zack safe-”

“There’s no need for that.” Zack interrupted, “we’ll figure something out. But just in case, try having a back up plan for you and Noct.” He suggested. He saw Luna nod and Stella sigh, and gave them both a concerned smile.

“This is just about as much as we can say for right now.” Ignis took a step forward, “we would just appreciate it if you cooperated with us until we were able to figure out if anyone is attempting to make the effort to chase Noctis down.”

“We’ll keep you guys updated. Thanks for coming.”

* * *

Zack sat in the now empty living room on the couch, joined by Angeal, Ignis, Gladio and Terra. Zack had tried to convince Xion at some point to get Umbra so they could take him on a walk, but he had yet again refused to move from his spot. With worry, Xion retreated to her room after telling Zack and Terra what had happened. Zack leaned forward in his spot on the couch and let out a small sigh.

“You did well.” Angeal spoke, rubbing Zack’s shoulder. “Until you’re able to really figure out what’s going on, there’s no telling what you should do.”

“All I can think of is making sure that Noct is safe.” Zack mumbled, “I really don’t know what else to do.”

“Well, that’s the main thing you should be focusing on.” Angeal clarified, “everything that comes after that is just in addition to keeping him safe.”

“Yeah… I guess.”

“Iggy and I will find a place to stay that’s close by.” Gladio spoke up, “so if you need us, we’ll be a phone call away.”

“Indeed.”

“Zack, if anything, I think right now would be the best time for you to talk to Noct, and not let him stress any more than he already has been.” Angeal spoke up.

“Yeah…” Zack nodded, “I don’t really know what to say to him though. That’s the reason why I’ve been holding off on it.”

“It was also probably for the best to give him some time to think things through.” Ignis suggested, “but yes, maybe now would be a good time to talk to him, it has been a while.”

Zack agreed, standing from his spot, “I’ll be back later.” He said, making his way to walk up the three flights of steps to reach Noctis’ room. Standing in front of the door, Zack froze looking down to the ground at Umbra who gave him a concerned and rather unusually stressed look. “Hey boy.” Zack greeted, reaching down to pet the lonely dog, “keeping an eye on your owner?”

Umbra made a whimper sound as he curled up tightly.

“You need to eat too, you know. If you go downstairs, Terra can take you outside, and he’ll even feed you and give you some water, okay?” Zack continued to pet Umbra who gave him an uncertain look, “I’ll take care of Noct until you come back, okay?”

Umbra slowly stood from his spot, giving Zack a second glance and took his time to retreat down the stairs. Zack felt pain as he watched Umbra walk away from him. After a moment, he decided to knock on Noctis’ door, not really waiting to see if the raven would answer as he opened the door and peeked in.

“Noct?”

Noctis’ room was the cleanest it had ever been, almost like the first day when he had moved in. It was hard for Zack to see too much due to Noctis leaving the lights off, but he took in the observations. Noctis’ bed was pushed against the wall where he sat curled up in the very corner. His dresser was filled with all of his random trinkets, but it was placed in order now, like he had taken his time to put them together properly. Even from stepping into his room, the clothes were placed neatly in his closet, instead of being thrown all over the place when he was too lazy to do anything about them.

“Noctis?” Zack tried again, closing the door behind him. He slowly walked towards the bed, “you doing alright?”

“Yep.”

Zack sat on the edge of the bed, turning to Noctis to talk, “you know that’s not true.”

“Of course it’s not.” Noctis mumbled. He was curled up in a tight ball, looking down at his knees. Even though it was dark, Zack could see the subtle shine of liquid that was clearly running down Noctis’ face. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“You want me to be honest?” Zack asked, “I have no idea. I’ve never had to deal with this, but I know if anything, your dad would tell you to stand tall.”

“Of course he would.”

“He would also… want you to have this.” Zack spoke, pulling the box out of his pocket. “Even if you don’t want it, it’s yours. It belongs to you now.”

“You’re right,” Noctis started, glancing up at Zack, “I don’t want it.”

“Noct-”

“I don’t know what you and my dad expect from me. I don’t have a home to go back to. I haven’t been able to _see_ my home in 4 years. There’s no point of me even having that damn ring. There’s no reason to even fight for it anymore.” Zack could hear the pain in Noctis’ voice, “there’s nothing to go back to.” He whispered, lowering his head once more. He placed his head on his knees and allowed his tears to take over.

“Lucis may not be safe now, but… in time, the people living there will go back. They’ll help rebuild.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“If they love a home, they’ll do everything in their power to make it better. To rebuild it.” Zack placed the box on the bed in between them. “This ring is just as important to Lucis as you are.”

“There’s no point anymore.”

“There’s always a reason for things.” Zack gave a small smile, even though he knew Noctis wasn’t going to bother looking at him. “I’m still here for you, Noct. No matter what, I’ll make sure that you’ll go home and see Lucis in its former glory.”

“There’s no point.”

“There is a point.”

Noctis lifted his head to look Zack in the eyes, “there’s really no point.”

“Well, you listen here Noct,” Zack started, “I’ll have you know there’s a purpose for everything. Which means, there’s a valid reason as to why your dad sent you to stay with me. And there’s a reason why I plan to keep that promise, regardless of everything. I made a promise with your dad, and I _will_ keep it.”

“What was the promise?”

“You’re gonna have to take that ring, be a good kid and stand tall. _Then_ I’ll tell you what the promise is.” Zack gave his goofiest grin, “I have faith that you know how to do that, right?”

“A good kid… right.”

“Yeah, that includes keeping your room as clean as you did now.” Zack pointed off in a direction, “I’ve never seen this place so tidy.”

“Good luck ever seeing that again.” Noctis mumbled, giving Zack a small chuckle, “I don’t know why I cleaned up. I just _did_.”

“It’s clearly because your brain knew I was gonna heckle you for keeping this place so messy.” Zack chuckled in response, “keep this place clean, it’s like a death trap in here sometimes.”

“No way! Stay outta my room then!” Noct protested, sitting up so that he could make an argument, “you won’t have to worry about my room if you don’t walk in here!”

“I gotta walk in here to make sure you’re still alive dude! You sleep so much!” Zack playfully yelled, “and this is _my_ house! I can go wherever I wanna go!”

Noctis smiled and lowered his legs so that he could stretch out a bit, “I guess that’s true.”

“Of course it is. You’re addicted to sleeping.”

“It’s better than being addicted to other things.”

“Yeah.”

There was a long silence as the two thought of something else to say to each other. After a long moment, Zack had stood to make his way out of the room. “Hey- Zack?” Noctis spoke once he saw Zack get closer to the door.

“Yeah?” Zack turned slightly to look at Noctis, “what’s up?”

“Thanks.” Noctis stated, “thank you so much.”

“Any time, Noct.” Zack smiled, “I’ll always be here for you.”

* * *

The next morning started with Zack gleefully making breakfast for the people in the house. They came to an agreement that Gladio and Ignis would be staying in the house on the same floor as Noctis until they were able to find an apartment close by. Noctis wasn’t too disappointed with this idea, since he wanted to be able to see his friends again but they hadn’t had the chance to really talk much. Xion however felt a bit awkward at the growing amount of male hormones in the house. Gladio had offered for Iris to stay with them who was currently bunking with Kairi, but she’d have to share Xion’s room, who wasn’t too fond of sharing.

That and her room was pretty messy.

Ignis was actually the first to wake, choosing to wake up Zack to ask him how to maneuver around the kitchen so he wouldn’t make a mess. Terra had woken at some point rather early due to realizing that Ventus had left him in his room alone for most of the night. When he came down the stairs, he smelt a meal that was much different from what Zack used to cook. Noctis, as usual, was the last to come down to eat, but he was _very_ happy about being able to eat Zack _and_ Ignis’ cooking.

He had dreamed about this for years now.

The group ate happily at the dining table, slowly catching up with Gladio and Ignis as they explained what they’ve been doing for the past few years. Mainly jobs having to do with leaving town for a few months, or doing reconnaissance to help Shinra. At one point, Noctis had decided to ask more about their work, but they refused to say much more due to their sworn secrecy. Noctis chose to ask where the Regalia was, to which Ignis told him it was safe with Reno at the Fujiwara household.

After the hefty breakfast, Terra and Xion excused themselves to go back upstairs to their rooms. Noctis stayed on the couch accompanied by Umbra. Zack told the group that he made a promise he’d go and talk to Cloud to make sure he was okay, and Gladio and Ignis informed Noctis that they’d be upstairs for a little while. With a questioning glance, Noctis eyed Umbra and stood from his spot on the couch.

“Hey, Umbra.” Noctis started, “want to go for a walk?” He asked, earning a happy tail wag from Umbra. “Okay, but you can’t be too loud. This walk is a little different from your usual route, alright?” He watched Umbra eye him down. “I know Ignis always has the Regalia’s keys with him, but I never really know how close or far away he keeps them.” He mumbled, turning to the front door. “C’mon Umbra. I’ll be fine this time with just being able to see the Regalia. I miss her.”

Umbra followed closely behind Noctis as he waited for Noctis to first put on his shoes, take his house keys and open the door for the two of them. Once Umbra stepped out, Noctis left, closed and locked the front door behind them. “Alright Umbra… Reno’s place isn’t too far away, but we have to be careful, okay?”

Umbra barked and was instantly shushed by Noctis. They walked a few blocks out following the path that Noctis had last remembered Reno’s house to be. He inwardly cursed himself for not paying attention all these years when Zack told him to know where his friends lived. They soon turned on a block that was next to a park, one of which was rather unfamiliar to Noctis.

“Oh- shit, where are we?” Noctis mumbled to himself as he looked around the area, “I thought if we kept going up here we’d get to his block in no time.” Umbra looked up at Noctis with a concerned look on his face. Umbra whimpered in response. “It’s okay Umbra, let's just keep going up here, we’ll find our way soon.”

Something about this was off putting to Umbra, so in order to keep watch over Noctis, he had chosen to stay on high alert. His senses some time ago had picked up an unusual scent, but Noctis was rather focused on being able to get to his destination. They continued their slow walk up the hill, then at some point Noctis had suggested they take a left, then a right, then another left. Umbra was getting hungry, and Noctis was getting visibly more exhausted. Umbra began to whimper once more, but then froze, turning around to growl, setting Noctis on high alert.

“What’s wrong Umbra?” Noctis called reaching to hold onto Umbra, “is something there?” Umbra began to bark at something Noctis couldn’t quite see. Noctis found himself squinting as he looked around, surveying the area. “Umbra, there’s nothing here.” Umbra barked once more, running out of Noctis’ grasp to chase down whatever he saw. “Umbra! Wait!” Noctis yelled, standing to chase after his dog. Umbra had quickly made a right in between two houses.

Noctis froze when he heard a loud whimper come from around the corner. Silently cursing himself, he turned his head to his right, making eye contact with an unfamiliar looking man. He had two subordinates who wore black hoods, and one of them had caught Umbra in one of those dog catcher poles.

“Would you look at that. A boy and his dog.” The voice came out playful, as the man with his hat stepped forward, “I’d assume this is a loyal dog?”

“Who the hell are you?” Noctis asked. He tried his best to keep an eye on the man, but he couldn’t stop himself from being concerned about Umbra’s well being. “Why don’t you let him go?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” The man spoke, “besides, I’ve had to keep my distance up until now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, little _Noctis_.” He gave Noctis a smile, “I’ve come here for you.”

“Why?”

The man took a few steps closer to Noctis, causing Umbra to bark wildly. Noctis balled his hands into fists as he watched the man get closer. “Well, you seem to have something that belongs to me.” He reached to grab at Noctis’ left wrist. The raven was startled by how close the man had gotten in such a small amount of steps. His grip on Noctis’ wrist was amazingly tight, Noctis had realized as he tried multiple times to pull away, to no avail. “Where is it?”

“I don’t know what you want from me, let me go.” Noctis tried his best to keep his cool, but he could feel the fear starting to grow in his voice.

“Where is _it_?” The man repeated, leaning close to Noctis’ face.

“What is _it_?” Noctis asked. He studied the man’s face as they were less than a foot apart, and he took note of the man’s red hair and stubble beard.

“The ring.”

“What ring?”

The man let out a laugh, gripping onto Noctis’ wrist harder than he was before. He leaned back with the playful smile back on his face. “You must not have the ring of Lucis, do you? It must still be back in that damned place.”

Noctis felt all of the worry and anxiety pile in as he tried his best to pull away from the man. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Let me _go!_ ” He yelled, using his other hand to try and hit the man’s arm.

“There’s no way. You _must_ have it. One of your servants had to have brought it back to you by now.” He insisted, using his other hand to grab onto Noctis’ free one, gripping them both up the same way. “I know who you are Noctis. I know who your father was and I have _always_ known where you were forced to move.” He eyed Noctis, “this time however, I’m not letting you get away. Not until I get that _ring_.”

“I…” Noctis tried his best to pull away, “I don’t have your damn _ring!_ ” He yelled angrily.

“Noct!” The man had looked up upon hearing someone call for Noctis. A car pulled up across the street and Zack, Gladio and Ignis came piling out in a hurry. Gladio crossed the street with his mind set on hurting the man touching Noctis. The man slowly let go, looking back to Noctis.

“I’ll find you, and I’ll get that ring.” He whispered to Noctis. He then turned to his hooded lackies and yelled, “let the dog go! We need to leave.” He began walking away, but not until he made one last glance in Noctis’ direction before retreating. Umbra continued to bark at the man as he passed, but Umbra was more concerned about Noctis’ wrists than the dangerous man.

“Noctis, who the hell was that?” Gladio asked, gripping Noctis’ shoulder to turn him to the trio. “No- forget that, why the hell were you _out here_?”

“You know it’s dangerous, Noct.” Ignis added, “it looks like even Umbra was hurt.” He and Noctis looked down to Umbra, who sure enough had some liquid dripping from his neck. He must have really been trying to get out of the wire in order to reach Noctis.

“Umbra… I’m sorry buddy.” Noctis mumbled, reaching to pet the dog. “I should have just stayed home.”

“Yes, you should have.” Ignis answered.

“Well- why did you want to come out here anyways, Noct?” Zack asked, leaning over to pet Umbra to make sure he was relatively okay.

“I wanted to find the Regalia… but then I realized that I have _no_ idea where Reno’s place is so…”

“You’re a long ways away if that’s where you were going.” Zack replied, “they live on the same block as the park.” He added, “on the left.”

“UGH.” Noctis groaned, looking at Umbra, “and here I go saying it didn’t look familiar.”

“It probably didn’t because you were walking and not being taken by car.”

“Regardless, if you wanted to _see_ the Regalia, all you had to do was ask, Noct.” Ignis clarified, “Gladio and I would have taken you at any time.”

“Well you and Gladio were upstairs doing something. Like hell I’d want to go upstairs and find out.” Noctis shot a look at Ignis, who in turn glanced over to Gladio.

“Doesn’t matter.” Gladio stated, “you can’t go around leaving the damn house without one of us or someone trustworthy of protecting you coming along.” Gladio crossed his arms over his chest, “what the hell did that man want?”

Noctis stood, rubbing one of his wrists that had begun to bruise. “He wanted the ring of Lucis. He knows who I am, he’s known that I’ve been here and… he knows the ring must be here too.” Noctis looked down to the ground, “I told him I didn’t have it but…”

“Goddamnit.” Zack mumbled. He looked around the area in thought, “I can’t have you getting in trouble. I can’t have you being put in danger.”

“I know, I don’t want to get in trouble, but- I just… I just wanted to…” Noctis mumbled. “I don’t know… I’ve….”

“I don’t know if you’re trying to figure out how to make up a damn excuse or whatever, but _we_ need to get out of here.” Gladio interrupted, harshly grabbing Noctis’ shoulder to force him in the direction of the car. He ignored Ignis’ voice of concern to tell him to be careful, as he shoved Noctis into the back seat.

“Gladio I-” Noctis tried to protest but the moment he started to speak, Gladio had slammed the door in front of his face. Noctis glanced to his right when he saw Zack slowly guide Umbra into the seat next to him, so that he could sit on the far right side. “I still want to see the Regalia…” Noctis spoke up once everyone was in.

“I don’t think you _deserve_ to see the Regalia.” Gladio seethed.

Umbra barked in protest and began to whimper.

“Umbra needs care.” Ignis added, “we’ll go see the Regalia another time.”

Noctis looked down at his wrists and huffed. “Like hell! You _just_ told me all I had to do was ask either one of you, and you’d take me! This doesn’t sound like you’re going to even _bother_ to take me anywhere but home! I don’t want to be holed up in there!” Gladio had started up the car and instantly made a U-turn, driving them back home.

“Noctis, there’s not much else we can do right now!” Gladio yelled back, “you want to keep being a royal _pain in the ass_ , your _highness_?!” His words most definitely stung Noctis. Noctis turned to the left to look out the window, refusing to say anything else. Zack continued to pet Umbra to make sure he stayed awake, and gave the dog a quick kiss on his head.

“Poor thing.” Zack whispered as he went to scratch behind Umbra’s ears. “We’ll take care of you.”

“How’s he doing?” Ignis asked, looking through the rear-view mirror.

“He’s okay, his neck is just bleeding a lot.”

“A lot?”

“Maybe not _a lot_ a lot, but… it’s definitely bleeding.” Zack mumbled, “I’m afraid to touch his neck, honestly.”

“It’s probably for the best.” Ignis whispered. Gladio had pulled up in front of the house and turned off the car. “Looks like we’re here.”

“Yeah, someone take that damn kid and bring him inside.”

“You know, Gladio-” Noctis started, “I was pretty happy to think that you’d actually be there for me, to make sure that I’d be okay. I thought having you here would be fun, it’d be like old times. But, I hate this.” He said, opening up the car door. Umbra stood to follow but Zack whispered for him to stay. Zack quickly got out of the car and followed Noctis. “I hate that guy. So damn much.” He muttered to himself.

Zack glanced back to the car to watch Gladio angrily start back up the car, with Umbra looking quite sad in the back seat. He knew Noctis was going to be upset and there wasn’t much he could do for Umbra but to just hope. But, he knew how to make Noctis feel better.

The two stood in front of the door, allowing for Zack to pull out the keys to unlock the door. “Hey, Noct?” Zack started, glancing over to the raven.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna take a ride on my motorcycle?”

“You have a motorcycle?” Noctis asked, suddenly looking rather interested.

“Well, it belongs to Shinra, but it made me start thinkin’ that I wanted to build one of my own.” Zack grinned, “so, how about it?”

“Hell yea.” Noctis returned the grin, “where is it?”

Zack opened the door and grabbed a pair of keys, then closed the door once again. “C’mon, it’s back here.” He pointed to the back of the house. The duo made their way around the house to a spot that Noctis had never even bothered to explore before. Zack opened up the garage door to show Noctis a motorcycle. “This lady right here has been my treasure for a while now.” Zack added, “c’mon, I’ll show you how to start ‘er up.”

Noctis stood frozen for a moment, “are you sure you should be trusting me with something like this? What if I just go and take it to find the Regalia?”

“Well, I’d assume you don’t know how to drive a motorcycle _and_ I have this baby tracked.” Zack pointed a thumb in the motorcycle’s direction. “Either way, you can really only start it if you’re a part of Shinra.”

“I… see.” Noctis nodded slowly, “okay then.”

Zack gave a chuckle and hopped onto the motorcycle, “c’mon!” He patted at the spot right behind him. “The quicker you get on, the quicker we can have some fun!”

“Shouldn’t I have like, a helmet or something?” Noctis asked as he slowly climbed onto the spot behind Zack. He grabbed onto Zack’s shoulders and looked around for some sort of head protection.

“You don’t trust me?” Zack asked as he turned to look at Noctis, a playfully hurt look on his face.

“I do but- my face…”

Zack chuckled and opened up a compartment somewhere off on the side of the motorcycle, and tossed it back to Noctis who cautiously put it on. Zack turned on the motorcycle and with a wide grin, turned to look back to Noctis to make sure he was okay. “Got that thing on yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Good!” Zack laughed as he drove off quickly, startling and forcing Noctis to wrap his hands around Zack’s waist tightly. Panic had initially set in as Noctis felt Zack laughing. Noctis after a moment decided to loosen his grip so that he could look around the town. He never really knew how fast motorcycles could go, but this one was going pretty fast. Soon, that panic had turned into thrill, joy and excitement. At one point he heard Zack yell “WOO-HOO!” with a fist up in the air even though they were still driving through the more quiet parts of the city.

Zack had taken them onto the highway, into another town and back again, just to have some fun. Somewhere during their drive, Noctis had wished he didn’t have his helmet on so that he could feel the wind in his hair like Zack felt. Noctis felt a huge smile pull at his lips as they began to slow down, coming to a home that was rather familiar to him. “Reno’s house?” Noctis asked once it was quiet enough for him to speak normally.

“Yep!” Zack grinned, pulling next to the driveway in the back of the Fujiwara’s house. He turned off the motorcycle and hopped off. “Reno should be home, let me give him a quick call.” Zack added, digging in his pocket for his phone. In no time, he was using it and waiting for Reno to answer. Noctis listened to Zack have his short conversation with Reno, but he was rather focused on the motorcycles’ build. He had really never focused on a motorcycle before, so all of this was rather new to him.

He ran his hand along the seat, then put his hands on the handlebars. “A motorcycle, huh.” Noct mumbled to himself. “I would never be able to ride this thing.”

Noctis froze once he heard the garage door open, revealing a rather tired looking red head. Noctis recognized him as Reno instantly, and gave the man a sheepish smile. He and Zack walked closer to greet Reno. “Waking me up is a pain sometimes, yo.” Reno muttered. “You’re so lucky I woke up.”

“Thanks for that Reno. We’re going to find a better place to leave the Regalia soon.” Zack answered, giving Reno a hug. “Noct really wanted to see his car, so, I figured it was best to bring him here now.”

“We’re not gonna be able to keep the damn thing safe for too long, yo.” Reno looked over to Noct, “I don’t mean to put any pressure on you guys but the clock is tickin’. And it’s tickin’ fast.”

“Trust me, I know.” Zack replied. He turned to Noctis, digging into his pocket to pull out a familiar key. “Here, Noct. Go ahead and give her some love.” He handed the key to Noctis, who looked at it, familiarizing himself with the key once more. With a soft smile, Noctis looked to Zack, then to Reno, then to the Regalia.

Noctis opened the front door and sat in the driver seat, Turning on the Regalia, Noctis felt his eyes tear up once he heard the soothing sound of the car purring. He placed his hands on the wheel and slowly lowered his head to place on the wheel. “D-dad…” He whispered to himself as the tears began to flow again. “I miss you so much…”

Back with Reno and Zack, who were a distance away, Reno had watched Noctis’ actions, but then had turned his attention to Zack. “What’s so important about this car, yo?”

“If it’s nearby, people’ll know that Noct is most likely here.”

“So it’s just an easy way to track him?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s all, yo?”

Zack gave Reno a comforting smile, “it’s the last thing he has that was given to him from his dad.”


	6. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Believe it or not, this chapter stressed me out just a bit to write. I can't particularly say why, but for now, there aren't any real warnings for this chapter. More of this side of the plot is going to come later in this arc. 
> 
> It's back to Cloud, and this time one of his little brothers too.

To go forward, sometimes you need to go back.

Or at least, that’s the motto Cloud followed.

Cloud stood in front of his biggest nightmare. He hated it. He always would. He had never planned to come here, but after seeing Riku with his little brother and Sora, he had a self made promise that he would. With all the problems with Noctis going on, Cloud had hoped it would serve enough of a distraction for at least Riku to be out of the house.

No matter what, this house was never small. It was fitting. The most well-known SOLDIER that Shinra had to offer. It was like a mini mansion. Just looking at this place made him feel sick down to his core. He let out a heavy, pained and shaky sigh as he reached for the doorbell. Lightly pressing the button, he waited for someone to come to the door. He was soon greeted by a man barely taller than himself, and with a pained look in his eyes, he whispered, “Kadaj.”

“So you really did keep up on your promise, huh?” Kadaj asked, stepping out of the way with a smirk plastered on his face. “We thought you’d chicken out, brother.”

Cloud took a few steps into the building, his nose wrinkling at the painfully familiar scent. He took off his shoes at the front door, and glanced back to Kadaj, “I’m not your brother.”

“Aw, we’re still on this, _brother_?” Kadaj asked, a hint of something coming from his voice. Cloud looked ahead, into the house. It was still the same as he had remembered, and it was still the same as he hated. “Make yourself at home, I’ll go get big brother.” Cloud watched Kadaj walk past him, giving him a side eye and a sinister grin as he made his way up the stairs. Cloud let out a heavy breath, turning his attention to the couch. If Riku _were_ here, things would probably be a lot easier to deal with, but he would _never_ want Riku to go through the things that he’s gone through.

He felt his hands shake as he heard a few extra footsteps coming from upstairs. Cloud glanced around the room to try and distract himself some, to no avail when he heard the familiar voice floating through the air.

 _This has to be a mistake_.

Cloud shut his eyes tightly, gripping his hands together as the voice had become clearer, closer, louder. “Shit.” Cloud whispered to himself. He opened his eyes to turn around, automatically making eye contact with the man who caused his stress and still chooses to add onto it.

“ _Cloud_.” Sephiroth greeted. His voice was still the same as Cloud had remembered. “I didn’t expect you to keep your promise.” He moved swiftly, standing at the end of the couch, “come, I feel the dining area would be a better place for you to talk with me.”

“No,” Cloud said instinctively. He lowered his gaze and shook his head slowly, “this is fine.”

“Oh?” Sephiroth’s voice was one of interest. He soon sat in the seat adjacent to Cloud’s spot, and eyed him up and down. “Kadaj, Yazoo.” He called for two of the three problematic children, “how about you make us some tea?”

“Sure big brother.” Kadaj nodded, walking away with Yazoo into their kitchen.

“I wasn’t planning on staying for long.”

“I have a feeling our conversation will be going on for a while.” Sephiroth replied, a small smirk on his lips.

“I doubt it.”

“I don’t.”

Cloud went back to grabbing at his own hands to make sure he wouldn’t shake as much as he felt he was. Being this close to Sephiroth always caused some sort of anxiety in his body, one that was completely uncontrollable. He eyed those familiar turquoise eyes and felt the shiver go down his spine. “I want to make things right.”

“What is there to make right, Cloud?” Sephiroth asked, reaching his hand out as Kadaj and Yazoo came back with two cups of hot tea. Kadaj happily handed Sephiroth his cup, and slid the tray in front of Cloud on the table. Cloud eyed the tea cup and hesitantly picked it up.  “Do you remember when you used to live in this house with us? Before Ventus was forced to move here from Nibelheim?”

“Of course I do.” Cloud muttered, eyeing the cups’ contents. Kadaj let out a scoff.

“As if we’d drug you.” Kadaj spoke up, “big brother said we weren’t allowed.” Cloud nodded, pretending to take a sip of the tea. “Besides, you’re already in our home, brother. You’re back to where you belong.”

“I don’t belong here.” Cloud placed the cup back on the tray, “I never did.”

“Of course you did, and you still do.” Sephiroth spoke once more, placing his cup on the table. “It’s just like before, you would protest to drink _anything_ that was good for you.”

Cloud glanced at Kadaj, then Yazoo, then soon back to Sephiroth. “You’re the only one I want to talk to right now. Make them leave.”

“We can take the hint, _brother_.” Kadaj muttered with venom. He grabbed Yazoo who couldn’t stop eying Cloud as they both retreated to what sounded like upstairs.

“Have you done anything to Riku?” Cloud asked, turning his full attention to Sephiroth. “Or have you decided that you’re okay with changing?”

“I don’t think you seem to understand, Cloud. I haven’t done _anything_ to you. I would _never_ hurt Riku.”

“Last time I saw Riku, he didn’t look too happy.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy because you have your toy back?”

“What?” Cloud’s voice was one of shock. “My what?”

“Oh, apologies. I guess that’s not what you would call him, huh? Your so-called _boyfriend_?”

“He’s not my _so-called_ boyfriend, he _is_ my boyfriend.”

“I hear he has a ring ready and waiting for you.”

“We’re not getting married.” Cloud spoke sternly, as if to tell himself that as well.  

“Now Cloud. Usually I would never try to interrupt your relationships, but- I don’t believe you should pursue such a relationship like this anymore.”

“You just want me to be single.”

“Of course not.” Sephiroth shook his head, “have you told the kids about our families yet?”

“No.”

“So you’ve left Roxas and Ventus thinking that they’re actually related to us?” Sephiroth asked, “well that isn’t very nice, don’t you think?”

“I’ll tell them eventually.”

“Sure. Tell them how you once loved me so much that you wanted to be a part of my family.”

“That’s _not_ what _this_ was.” Cloud glared at the silver haired man, “and you know it.”

“Oh, but it _is_.” Sephiroth allowed a grin to grow on his face, “you used to hate leaving my side. You used to always want to be with me, love me. Have _me_ love you. Don’t you remember?”

“I _never_ loved you like that. You know I had no choice.” Cloud replied, shaking his head. There was a part of him that was satisfied that Sephiroth had actually decided to talk about the things that bothered him the most. He was ready to move on, but in order to do that, Cloud felt he needed to understand what Sephiroth was aiming at. He also knew that Sephiroth was going to use the worst part of his past against him, but none of that mattered to him. He was willing to look ahead, but _only_ after he understood Sephiroth’s goal.

“You mean to tell me my memories of us were fake?” Sephiroth replied questionably, raising his eyebrow.

“You know I’ve hated you from the moment I was forced to stay here.” Cloud seethed, “you, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo. The 4 of you have always made me sick.”

“What a sudden burst of confidence you have there, Cloud.”

“You’ve done far too much to me for me to not feel any other way.”

“Once again Cloud, I have to tell you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never done anything _wrong_ to you.”

“You-” Cloud stopped, he could feel his anger rising so he quickly cleared his throat, “what have you done to Riku?”

“I’ve told you already, I haven’t _done_ anything to Riku.” Sephiroth denied. “Riku has always been that way.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” Sephiroth nodded, “Riku was and always has been _okay_.”

Something in Cloud’s system was telling him that the way Sephiroth said his words were all rather alarming. He suddenly felt a large amount of concern for Riku, but he couldn’t let Sephiroth catch onto that. “Talking to you really _hasn’t_ helped anything.”

“I don’t know what you’ve expected to hear, Cloud.”

“I wanted to hear an answer, some truth. Something.” Cloud replied quickly, “all you want to do is beat around the bush, but I want something to work off of.”

“Do you realize who you’re even talking to?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, “you should know who I am.”

“I do.” Cloud sighed, standing from his spot, “and I knew that this was useless, but for some reason I still wanted to try. I wanted to get some answers.” He turned his attention to the front door.

Sephiroth nodded his head, “it’s okay. I have a feeling that you’ll be back again to talk with me.” Sephiroth gave a small smile. “Please, allow me to see you off.”

“I don’t need you to.” Cloud mumbled, glancing towards the door. “When I find out what you’ve been doing with Riku, I’ll definitely be back.”

“Of course you will.”

* * *

Cloud stared at Fenrir with an empty gaze. He let out a sigh, and ran his hand along the seat of the motorcycle. He mumbled to himself quietly as he looked around the area. His garage was filled with tools, cleaning supplies and various other types of gears and gadgets to make sure he was able to keep Fenrir in good shape. He had of course, already given Fenrir a tune-up with the last few items that came into the mail.

He decided to take a break, and made his way upstairs. Closing the door behind him, he watched as Roxas, Xion and Namine were having their bonding moment in the living room. Cloud knew if he decided to interrupt them now, Roxas would probably hate him for ages. Not like he doesn’t already hate him from their last interaction. Cloud let out a sigh, and walked up the next flight of stairs to get to the kitchen. He figured it was best to just make something to eat as an apology and leave it for Roxas to find when he had the time.

Some time went by and Cloud, now with a bowl in his hand, made his way back downstairs to talk to Roxas. Roxas looked rather concerned, but it looked like he was being consoled by Namine, while Xion was spouting out what seemed to be encouraging words. Cloud decided to take a few steps closer, his face as straight as ever.

“Rox?”

Roxas looked up just as a tear fell out of his eye. He made eye contact with Cloud and rushed to wipe his face. “H-hey Cloud.” His voice was fairly raspy as he continued to speak, “how are you? What is that?” He pointed to the bowl in Cloud’s hand.

“This… is for you.” Cloud held the bowl out far enough for Roxas to reach. “What’s going on?”

“It’s- nothing.” Roxas shook his head, grabbing the bowl. “I uh- we were just practicing for a school play.”

“A school play?” Cloud raised an eyebrow. " _Y_ _ou_ practicing for a school play?”

“Yeah.”

“With Xion saying ‘things’ll get better’ and Namine rubbing your back? That’s a part of the school play?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Xion, Namine?”

Xion glanced at Namine, then back at Roxas who mouthed a quick ‘no’ in their direction. Xion gave an awkward smile and spoke, “y-yeah! It’s all just a play.”

“So a play decided to use Roxas’  _real_ tears for their performance.” Cloud nodded slowly, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s the play about?”

“Heartbrea-” Namine started to speak but then Xion elbowed her in the knee. Xion chuckled.

“It’s about a prince who thought that his kingdom didn’t love him. So we’re playing the role as guards that keep an eye on him and make sure that he’s doing okay. This is the fourth act.”

Cloud let out a noise of understanding, then glanced back at Namine. “So, heartbreak, huh? Who hurt Roxas?”

“Wha-” Xion attempted to protest.

“It is hard for me to lie…” Namine mumbled. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I should say anything.”

Cloud then turned to Roxas, who was in the middle of eating his food. Roxas looked up at Cloud and gave him a rather goofy smile. “I’m fine, really!” Roxas spoke after swallowing the food in his mouth.

“When your eyes get super puffy later, don’t talk to me about it.” Cloud spoke quickly, turning to go back upstairs.

“It’s not like you cared much anyways.” Roxas mumbled quietly.

Cloud stopped in his tracks, and glanced back to his little brother. “You think I don’t care about you?” He whispered almost too quietly.

Roxas placed the now empty bowl on the table and took a moment to think. “I was always the one that you pushed away. You don’t care about me like how you care about Zack, or Ven, or Prompto. Hell, you even pay more attention to Demyx than you do to me.”

“And that makes you think that I don’t care about you?”

“If that’s _you_ showing that _you_ care about me, then one of us is clearly doing something wrong.”

Cloud turned fully to look Roxas in the eyes. There was a long and intense silence as the two refused to say any words. Xion leaned close to Namine and gave her an awkward look, one of which she returned. “Then so be it.” Cloud muttered after the long silence.

“What?”

“I guess I don’t care about you then.”

Roxas stared in shock as Cloud retreated to the garage once more. Once Cloud was out of their view, Roxas turned to Xion and Namine who gave him questioning looks.

* * *

“Who the hell reads LOVELESS and enjoys it?” Cloud muttered to himself. He held the book in his hands as he leaned up against a pillar. He hadn’t been able to stay in such an open space without people coming every which way to talk with him for ages. He used to spend his time hidden away in this abandoned church no one seemed to have known about.

It was some large church that seemed that it had gotten loads of attention before the Slums went downhill. Cloud had really only managed to find it by accident one day, but strangely enough it seemed like it was still being taken care of by someone else. There was always a wide variety of flowers planted in the dirt, and it seemed to have always had just enough sun from the hole in the roof.

It was something about this large church that Cloud always _liked_. He usually chose to leave Fenrir out of the building, but sometimes he felt he needed to keep an eye on it. Though, nothing has actually happened. Maybe he’s just worried.

Closing his eyes, Cloud placed the book to his side and decided to soak in some extra sun rays before it got dark. That was, until he felt is phone ring.

With a sigh, he opened his eyes and looked at his phone.

 _Roxas_.

Now why would Roxas call him after what he told him? Cloud felt his eyes squint as he pressed to hang up the phone. After a few seconds, the phone began to ring again.

 _Roxas_.

_Why?_

Cloud shook his head and went to hang up the phone again.

“So now you’re _really_ ignoring me?”

Cloud froze, hearing the familiar voice. He turned to the front doors of the church to see Roxas and Zack standing side by side looking at him. After a moment, Cloud stood from his spot and placed his phone back in his pocket. “How do you know about this place?” He focused all of his attention on Roxas.

“Let’s just say, I had a little bit of help.” Roxas pointed a thumb to Zack. “He was worried about you too, you know.”

Cloud eyed Zack for a moment and gave a subtle nod. He was feeling much more cautious with his words, since he didn’t want to say the wrong things to or around the raven. “You asked Zack?”

“We went to a few places where he thought you’d might be, but… this is the farthest we had to go, and frankly, I’m pretty damn glad you’re _here_.”

“Besides, the bike in front of the church was a pretty _good_ giveaway.” Zack pointed out. He placed his hands on his hips and gave a big sigh, “so, you gonna tell us why you decided to skadoodle all the way over here? Or am I gonna have to fight you for it?”

Cloud looked to the ground, “it’s… nothing. I just wanted to be on my own for a bit.”

“Last time I was able to check on you, you were a full-blown alcoholic. Was that just a phase or are you going to go back to it?” Zack asked, “or, as a matter of fact, should I be asking you about this new emo phase you have going on?”

“Zack…”

“When was it _ever_ okay to treat your siblings like this? Did you even know about Sora?”

“Sora?” Cloud looked up to make eye contact with Zack, a concerned look on his face.

Zack took a few steps forward to close the distance between he and Cloud. “I only just got back, and that was one of the first things that I heard about. The last time I checked, we’ve talked about making sure you wouldn’t push people away, Spike. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. I always notice when something’s wrong with you.”

Cloud shook his head, “I- I don’t… what happened to Sora?”

“It’s not what _happened_ , it’s what’s _happening_.”

Cloud let out a small noise then glanced to Roxas for some answers.

Roxas sighed, “Sora’s in a deep depression right now. Riku’s taking care of him, but _we_ know they’re both in that same state.” He pointed to Zack for emphasis. “You _would_ have known if you didn’t push us away.”

“He asked me about _Sephiroth_.” Cloud replied quickly, “why would I ever want to tell Riku about _that_?”

“What the hell’s the deal between you and Sephiroth anyways?” Roxas asked, raising his voice. He went to take a few steps forward only to be stopped by Zack who then shook his head.

“That’s not something you need to know about right now, Rox.” Zack gave the young blonde a comforting smile then turned his attention back to Cloud, “and even then, you’ve always ignored questions like that in the past, Cloud. Why does it bother you now?”

“I don’t… know.” Cloud mumbled. “I don’t know.”

“Cloud.”

“What the hell type of big brother are you, honestly.” Roxas spoke up, “it always seemed like you never cared about any of us. Hell- I’m shocked you even talk to Zack about the things that matter to you. But even then, it doesn’t seem like you tell him _too_ much either. Do you really hate us that much?”

“Rox-”

“I don’t hate you,” Cloud started, “it’s just… not something you need to know.”

“That’s a damn lie and you know it.”

“Dilly dally, shilly shally.” Zack spoke loudly, filling the church with his voice.

Cloud and Roxas turned their attention to Zack just as Cloud opened his mouth, “ah- what?”

“Dilly dally, shilly shally.” Zack repeated, “you know that saying more than anyone, right?”

“F-from Tifa… yeah.”

“If you know who’s important to you, then treat them like they are.” Zack placed a hand on Roxas’ shoulder. “And if you feel that you’re missing things in your family’s life, then shouldn’t you be more involved? _I_ know you care, but people like Rox? They would never know unless you tell them.”

Roxas glanced over to Cloud with a questioning look. Cloud could only look to the floor in silence. “Besides, all they want to do is look out for you just as much as _I_ do.” Zack added, “they care for you just as much as _I_ do. I thought you already knew this. So, what happened?”

“I… I went to talk to Sephiroth today.” Cloud admitted. Zack gave the man a shocked look that he refused to see. “All I left with were more questions.”

“Why would you go there in the first place?”

“I wanted answers, Zack.”

“You really believed he would just give them to you? I don’t think Sephiroth is the type of person to just fess up to his crimes without knowing he’d get something out of it.”

“I know…”

“So you decided to walk into the lion’s den?”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You could have asked me to come with you.”

“This isn’t- this doesn’t involve you.”

“When has _that_ ever bothered me?”

“Zack…” Cloud whispered, looking up to Zack, “I just need some time to myself right now. Can you take Rox and bring him home?”

“I shouldn’t be the one taking care of your brothers, Spike.” Zack glanced at Roxas, “they’re my friends, sure. I love them, yeah. But, they’re not _mine_ to take care of. You know I have Noctis, which… admittedly, hasn’t been the easiest that I’ve had to deal with these past few years but it’s been okay.” Zack shrugged, “but even then, the family in my house? They come to me when they need things. Hell, even Sora comes to me.”

“What’s your point?”

“Rox, Ven, Dem and Prompto all look for you for help. _You’re_ the one they want help from. But you push them away, Spike.”

Cloud gave Zack an awkward look, hearing the nickname even though he knew Zack switched between his name and that strange nickname he made up one day. Usually if he heard his name come from Zack, it was more serious, but the tone in Zacks’ voice this time set him on alert. “I don’t see why they look up to me.” Cloud replied, “I’ve never been much help.”

“You make yourself that way.” Zack sighed, “I know what you’re capable of. I just don’t think that _you_ know.”

“Zack,” Roxas started, “maybe we should just give him some time to... iunno. Maybe we should leave him alone.” Roxas grabbed Zack’s arm, giving the older man a concerned look. “I don’t want to see you bashing on my big brother.”

“I’ll take you home, Rox.” They turned, with Zack giving Cloud one last look, “come home when you’re ready.”

Cloud slowly sat back on the ground, looking off to the side as he listened to Zack and Roxas make their leave. He pushed himself back up to the pillar and closed his eyes once more. Cloud was well aware of how much his family relied on him. Originally, he never focused too much on Prompto and Demyx. They came knocking at his door 4 years ago... well... _Prompto_ came knocking at his door 4 years ago.

When Prompto showed up, bags in hand and a goofy smile on his face, Cloud didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know the situation with Noctis yet, but Prompto had explained it to him in a way that made sense. Prompto had requested for safety from Cloud, which he didn’t really know what to tell the other blonde aside from the fact that he could stay. Not too long after Prompto began to settle in their house, Demyx came around.

He had said something about not being able to stay in Twilight Town College with his friend, but he wasn’t going to be able to stay with his parents so he needed somewhere to stay for the next year or so until he got his work situated. Demyx was more than welcome, in Cloud’s eyes. He was one of the only other people to bring in an income for the house, the other being Ventus.

Cloud thought of telling Roxas and Ventus about his situation with Sephiroth, but he figured that the two would never understand. Why he had done what he did when he was younger, and why he felt that he needed closure with the whole situation. He was sure just telling Roxas and Ventus that they weren’t even cousins with Riku would set them off.

Definitely.

There was no way they’d fully understand, and there was no way that Cloud was going to be willing to tell them about it. It wasn’t that there was a lot there, but it was too hard for Cloud to talk about. Sephiroth of course wasn’t going to tell them anything. By the sound of things, he never even told Riku. Of course he cared about Riku, and he wanted Riku to be safe, but Cloud felt that he was just as stuck as Riku.

Cloud let out a sigh as his thoughts took control of him. His mind slowly wandered to Zack and their rocky relationship. Ever since the whole alcoholic fiasco, their date, his birthday, the ring, Zacks’ mission, him going to see Sephiroth, him being alone to think... in a way, he felt overwhelmed with everything, even though nothing severe has really _happened_ , so to speak.

It wasn’t that Cloud _didn’t_ want to be with Zack. Being engaged was something that Cloud never understood the importance of. After dealing with what he had dealt with for so long, it didn’t quite make sense for him to have to worry about who he was going to spend “the rest of his life with”. Of course, he _loves_ Zack, he always has. From the moment they met and Zack took the time to talk with him, he fell in love with the man.

The slightest of smiles pulled at Cloud’s lips as he thought of he and Zack’s first meeting back in high school. How they had almost instantly bonded about being from backwater towns. How he himself had loved living in the cold weather that you would get from Nibelheim, and that Zack absolutely loved living in the ever so hot town, Gongaga. Just hearing the name sometimes would cause Cloud to chuckle to himself. However...

Cloud’s eyes shot open the moment he heard someone stumble over an item. He could tell that whomever the person was, was attempting to be as silent as possible. With a stern look and the smile wiped off his face, Cloud eyed the small boy walking down the aisle.

“I-”

“Who are you?” Cloud asked softly. Seeing the boy in his rough condition practically forced Cloud to soften his gaze.

“I-I’m...” The boy muttered, looking at him cautiously. Cloud stood from his spot, gathering his items quickly before turning his attention back to the boy. “M-my name is Denzel.”

“Denzel?” Cloud repeated, “what are you doing here?” He asked, taking a few steps closer.

“I... can you help me?”

“Help... you?”

“I can’t find my parents... they went missing and-”

Cloud’s eyes glanced down to the ground quickly. He felt like he was arguing with himself mentally as he began to walk closer to the boy. “I don’t-”

“Is that your bike? Outside?” The boy asked loudly. “Are you going to ride it? Can I ride with you?”

Cloud took a glance at the boy once more as he was walking past Denzel. He gave an almost unnoticeable smile to Denzel as he turned his attention back to leaving the church. He could hear Denzel chasing after him as he moved to his bike, giving it a quick look-over to make sure it was okay.

“I’ve seen your bike before, a few times.”

“Yeah?”

“It looks super cool.” Denzel ran closer to the front of the bike. “I always wanted to meet the person that rides it. You fit it.”

“You warmed up to me pretty quickly.” Cloud mumbled, opening a compartment on the motorcycle that earned a gasp from Denzel as he pulled out a helmet. He passed the helmet to Denzel, “here, put this on.”

Without a second thought, Denzel pulled on the helmet and waited for Cloud to climb onto Fenrir. Once he was situated, Cloud reached over for Denzel and helped him into the open space.

“By the way,” Cloud started, glancing back at Denzel to make sure he could hear as he started Fenrir, “my name’s Cloud.”

* * *

“We left you alone, and two hours later, you bring back a _kid_?” Roxas asked with his arms crossed over his chest, unimpressed with the situation. Cloud stood with Denzel in front of Roxas, Ventus, Prompto, Demyx, Noctis, Terra and Zack as he went through the effort of explaining the strange kid. “He wants _you_ to help him find his _parents_?”

“Yes.” Cloud stated.

“ _Are_ you going to help him?” Zack asked next.

“I-,” Cloud glanced down to Denzel who gave him a hopeful look as he grabbed onto Cloud’s hand. “I don’t know. I feel like I _should_.”

“I didn’t think you had time to take care of an orphan, Cloudy.” Prompto gave a grin, elbowing Demyx playfully. “Then again, you took _us_ in too.”

“I don’t know Cloud, do we really have space for a kid?” Ventus spoke up next.

“No.” Cloud said quickly, “well... actually, we have the one guest room open.”

“You want him to stay here?” Roxas asked quickly, “Cloud you don’t even know the kid!”

“Where else is he going to stay, Rox?” Cloud eyed Roxas, “I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you? Do you _really_?” Roxas asked, “when you decide that you want to get all of your shit together, then you can let me know. I’ll be in my room.” Roxas added without any room for argument. The youngest blonde stormed off without another word.

“Uh-” Noctis started, “I’m all for taking in kids when they need help and all, but... I think I’m with these guys on this.”

“I’m sorry.” Denzel spoke up next. All of the attention was then on him, “for... causing so much trouble. I- I just want to be able to find my parents.”

“Who’s to say he’s really an orphan yet.” Cloud added.

“Oh jeez.” Zack mumbled, “what’s your parents names, Denzel? Do you know where they worked?”

“Abel and Chloe.” Denzel thought for a moment, “my mom stayed in the house, and my dad worked for Shinra.” At the mention of Shinra, Zacks’ eyes widened.

“You guys lived in... Sector 7?” Zack watched Denzel nod, “Denzel...” Zacks eyes softened to one filled with concern. He glanced up to Cloud then back to Terra who gave him a slow but firm nod. “Your parents... they’re-”

“No they’re not. They’re alive. They ran away, they made it to Sector 5! I just need to know how to get there-” Denzel protested. His hands noticeably grabbed onto Cloud tighter as he spoke again, “I know for _sure_ they’re alive!”

“Denzel...”

Cloud turned and kneeled towards Denzel, grabbing a hold of his arms as he gave the young boy a comforting smile, “let’s get you upstairs, okay?” With tears forming in his eyes, Denzel nodded slowly, following Cloud as they went up the stairs.

“To think that Cloud would be nice to a kid.” Ventus muttered, “that’s new.”

“It’s probably harder for him than anyone, y’know?” Terra replied, “that’s not easy to handle.”

“I could only imagine.” Demyx mumbled.

“Yeah.” Noctis added, “it’s not the best feeling.” He said as he stood. “Zack, can we go? Umbra might be looking for me.”

Zack shook his head to get out of his thoughts and turned to Noctis with a comforting yet goofy smile. “Yeah, let’s get outta here.”

“Well, uh... Dem? Wanna go take a walk?”

“ _No!_ ” Demyx yelled to Prompto as he jumped from his spot on the couch, “I wanna lay down and _sleep!_ ”

“Well let’s go upstairs then.” Prompto pulled at his brother.

Ventus and Terra watched and waited until Zack, Noctis, Prompto and Demyx were either all out of view or left the building before they turned their attention to one another. They were separated by Prompto, Demyx and Noctis who all forced themselves to fit on the couch, which led to Ventus forcing himself in a ball, and Terra leaning on the arm of the chair giving a constantly stressed look.

“Well...” Ventus started.

“Guess we’re alone?”

“For the most part.” Ventus shrugged, stretching out his body, “Prompto and Dem really take up a lot of space sometimes.”

“I think they did that on purpose. 5 people shouldn’t be able to fit on a 3 person couch.”

Ventus gave Terra a playful smile, “so... what do you want to do?”

“Sleep in a room that’s cleaner than mine.” Terra stood from his spot, offering his hand for Ventus to grab. “C’mon, I like your room more.” Ventus chuckled and grabbed Terras’ hand.

“Sure, lets go to sleep~!”

* * *

“Thank you for taking care of me.” Denzel mumbled, “it didn’t seem like they liked me much.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Cloud sighed, looking around the room. The 3rd and last guest room that the Strife family had was now being occupied by a kid who none of the other household members felt too strongly about. The room was still fairly empty, save for the bag of blankets that were to be used at any time. Cloud looked at the boy once more, taking in the fact that he looked so hopeful for finding his parents.

“We’ll find them,” Denzel started, eying Cloud. “Won’t we?”

Cloud could only give the boy a soft smile, “you should rest.”

“I don’t think I’m tired yet!” Denzel protested, crossing his arms over his chest, “talk to me some more, won’t you?”

“I have something I need to do.” Cloud replied, “stay here. I’ll check on you later.” As Cloud turned to leave, he felt a smile pull at his lips as he heard the boy groan in protest. Cloud closed the door behind him letting the door click shut. He let out a sigh, slowly making his way back to his room. Upon entering his room, he turned to his closet and looked inside.

There wasn’t particularly anything important in there, save for his clothes hung up, all mostly black with the occasional white button-up shirts and the rare splash of color. Cloud let out a quiet sigh and climbed into his closet, closing the door to the closet behind him as he sat on the ground. It wasn’t exactly a walk-in closet, but it was big enough to always fit both he and Zack when they wanted some privacy whenever the kids ran around. Cloud smiled to himself as he thought about the occasional journeys he and Zack had in such a weird place.

Albeit, it was possibly the only place that Cloud and Zack _hadn’t_ had sex, mainly because it was too small and they’d be curled up in such a strange way. Cloud let his eyes close as he curled up in his spot, dozing off.

* * *

“Roxy?”

Roxas had agreed to meet up with Axel for the first time since they decided on their new ‘terms, conditions and requirements’ before dating. Axel, being the type of person he is, barely had any time for their ‘date’, but due to having a conversation with Tifa, he had been let free early so that he could spend time with Roxas.

When Axel had requested for Roxas to meet with him so they could do something together, one of which had to do with going to eat. Axel had mentioned something about going to a fancy restaurant, which was a frequent thing whenever he, Kairi and Reno were able to have time to eat together, but he never thought that it would possibly be unusual for Roxas.

After Axel had managed to get Roxas to join him in his bright red and fancy Audi, Axel took Roxas to a restaurant an hour out of Radiant Garden and into Twilight Town, where Axel told Roxas about how he, Reno and Kairi enjoyed eating at. He never knew it by name, but he always knew _where_ it was. Of course, Roxas had agreed to follow him to the restaurant, where for the longest time, Roxas had sat uncomfortably in the seat surrounded by ‘high-class’ civilians ordering food, gossiping and things of the like.

It didn’t take Axel too long to figure out how awkward Roxas felt with the whole situation. So, he had offered to take them to a smaller restaurant, one with fast food but still looked amazing on the inside. Axel still offered to pay for the food, which Roxas had originally refused, but accepted once he saw the stern look on Axel’s face. After spending about two or so hours on just food, they decided to spend some time walking around the city, with Roxas enjoying all of the little things the town had to offer.

After the third shop in the Market Street area, Axel had grown tired of walking around, even though Roxas was still enjoying every little moment of it.

“Roxy.” Axel called again, shoving his hands in his pocket as he stopped dead in his tracks. Roxas was in the middle of haggling one of the shop owners to let him get a keychain at an even lower price than the amount of munny offered. It was a sale going on, and yet the blonde wanted to haggle.

“C’mon! You should give me a newcomer’s discount then!” Roxas plead as he put his hands together and lowered his head, “please?!”

Axel felt that his voice was being completely tuned out, so without another word he made his way up to the shopkeeper and eyed the keychain that he wanted. It in fact wasn’t expensive at all, _but_ it definitely did seem like something Roxas would want. It… also wasn’t exactly a _keychain_ , but a _necklace_. The design itself was a simple “X” with sharp arrow-like tips, fully silver and quite shiny.

Shit, Axel liked the necklace too.

“Roxy, we should go. I can’t have you haggling all the people in the town.” Axel tried again, louder as he placed a hand on Roxas’ shoulder. Roxas sighed and looked up to Axel.

“If I got something like this, people would be able to tell Ven and I apart.” Roxas mumbled, “that _and_ it looks cool.”

“It’s okay. I’m pretty sure that people can tell just by your attitudes.” Axel said with a grin, earning a glare and a punch in the shoulder. The shopkeeper gave them a strange look as Roxas mumbled that he was ready to just go back to the car. The moment Roxas turned around, Axel pulled out his other hand from his pocket, this hand holding his wallet as he quickly slipped the shopkeeper more than enough money and slipped the necklace and his wallet back in his pocket. Axel gave the shopkeeper a cheeky grin as he turned his attention back to Roxas.

“Are you ready to go?” Roxas asked, turning around to make eye contact with Axel. “Aside from shopping around, I don’t know what else to do.”

“Well, actually…” Axel started, “I have one more place that I wanna go before it gets too dark.”

Sure enough the sun was slowly starting to set, and with a subtle nod from Roxas, the pair hopped onto the train leading to the station. Axel had pointed out that he used to like spending time on top of the tower ever since people stopped making use of the clock. From what Roxas understood, the clock had stopped working years ago, but according to Axel, it was an amazing place. At some point however, Axel had told Roxas to take the elevator up to the top of the tower, and he’d know where to go from there, but Axel would be there soon.

So, Roxas stood at the very top of the clock tower, opening the door leading to the outside. Gasping at the sight, Roxas walked around to the very front of the clock tower, eyeing the bottom of the train station, shocked at the height. “Holy…” Roxas whispered to himself. He leaned on the ledge to get a better look, and took in as much as he could. “This is so… amazing.”

“Isn’t it?” Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin hearing Axel’s voice come up from behind him. Roxas turned to see Axel giving him a cheeky grin as he held ice cream in both of his hands. As Axel came closer to him, he held a hand out for Roxas to grab one. “Didn’t mean to scare ya’ Rox.”

“I _literally_ could have died.” Roxas mumbled, eying the ice cream. “What is this, by the way?”

“Ice cream.” Axel replied nonchalantly, making his way to the ledge so that he could sit.

“Wait- are you climbing the-” Roxas felt concern bubble in his voice, “Axel what are you-”

“Calm _down_.” Axel adjusted his body so that he sat on the ledge comfortably, one leg propped up so that he could rest his arm on his knee. “C’mon, join me.”

“What if _I_ fall?” Roxas asked, moving closer.

“You really think I’m going to let you fall?” Axel asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. “Don’t worry about it. It’s really not that scary.”

“And if I had a fear of heights?”

“I’ll be right here to keep you safe.”

“I don’t think that makes me feel very _safe_.”

“I’m hurt.” Axel placed his free hand over his heart, as he continued his process to eat the ice cream that slowly began to melt. “If you don’t eat the ice cream soon though, it’ll melt.”

Roxas let out a huff, and carefully placed himself on the ledge in a comfortable enough position so that he could eat his ice cream in peace. They sat in silence, a comfortable silence. One that, more than anything, Roxas appreciated every second of. Once the two of them finished their ice cream, they held onto the popsicle sticks and looked over the city.

“This city is so pretty in the evening.” Roxas whispered.

“Yeah, I used to love being here.” Axel replied, “I loved living here.”

With that, Roxas turned to look at Axel, a somewhat concerned look on his face as he spoke up, “why’d you guys leave?”

“Renos’ job, mainly.” Axel shrugged, still looking forward. “After moving so much, Kairi put her foot down and demanded we stay in Radiant Garden.”

“Where else have you lived?”

“Well… to be _fair_ ,” Axel started, glancing over to Roxas, “we’ve lived in Radiant Garden before. With our grandma. We left after she… y’know.” He turned his gaze back to the sunset, “then we started moving all around the place. I think Reno just didn’t want to think about the fact that _that_ was were our grandma once was.”

“O-oh…” Roxas mumbled, looking down at the popsicle stick. “I see.”

“In the end, we moved back to the same house. It really felt like it didn’t make sense to move anyways, but… we did. The time before our last move was… here. In Twilight Town. It was the best, honestly. I met Dem and Riku here, we went to college here… it was… great.”

“You-” Roxas started, “y-you dated Riku, right?” He watched Axel glance back at him as he took a moment to respond.

“Yeah.”

“Did… uh, was it fun?”

“It was, but he wasn’t really my type. We’re friends now but we don’t talk much anymore.”

“I’ve noticed.”

Axel closed his eyes and let out a chuckle, “yeah.”

“Is… there anything else?”

“Riku’s a good kid. But like I said, he wasn’t my type. We were really close but there were still a lot of things that he had to deal with, and a lot of things that I dealt with that just didn’t _work_. We _weren’t_ able to work. There was always a part of me that didn’t want it to work anyways. He understood, hell… he _agreed_. I wanted to be busy with work, school, music, family and so much more. Riku? There’s far too much with him and his family gone wrong that just… it was too much for me.”

“He has a lot of baggage?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“I’m... “ Roxas let out a sigh, looking back up to the sunset. “Cloud and Ven used to live in Nibelheim.” He started, causing Axel to open his eyes and turn his head to look at the blonde fully.

“Just them?”

“I’m still their full sibling and all, but I just… _never_ lived in Nibelheim with them.”

“Where were you when they were there?”

“I’ve been in Radiant Garden. Most of the time I was home-schooled. Cloud and Ven were with our mom, and I was with our dad.”

“What happened to them?”

“Cloud said they went back to Nibelheim.” Roxas let out another sigh, “he’s the only one that knows how to drive _anything_ , so… Ven and I trust his word.” Roxas shrugged, “I’ve always wanted to see Nibelheim but… Cloud and Ven said it was just snow and cold weather and weird people in a super small town, so it wasn’t worth it. But I still wanna see it one day.”

“We should go there one day.”

“R-really?”

“I don’t see why not.” Axel shrugged, “road trips are pretty fun, believe it or not.”

“I uh…” Roxas let out a small huff, “why did you want to do this again?”

“What do you mean?”

“What makes you want to date me?”

It was Axel’s turn to huff, he turned his attention back to the sun and shook his head. “You’re right. Maybe it isn’t _you_ that I want to date, but I just want to _date_. Maybe I’m just wasting my time aiming to date you specifically.”

Roxas felt his eyes squint as he eyed Axel, “you really do think it’s a waste of time, huh?”

“Iunno.” Axel shrugged. “Sometimes even _I_ don’t know what I want.”

“So, it’s not me that you want to date? You just want to _date_?”

“Maybe.”

“Don’t play games with me, Axel.”

Axel let out a small chuckle, completely ignoring Roxas’ gaze. “A few years back, when Dem came to live with you guys, we were doing a lot of the music stuff and whatever.” He cleared his throat, “Demyx talked a lot about you guys. He talked a lot about how much he loves you guys and how he wanted me to hang out with you guys more. He told me about Ven and Terra, about Prompto and his bond with Noctis, Gladio and Ignis. He told me about Cloud and his stable relationship with Zack. Then… he told me about…” Axel turned his head to look to Roxas, “you.”

“I don’t know why, but he felt the need to keep me updated on all the little things you guys did. How he found it cute that you’d hide the vegetables in your food from Cloud. How you’d refuse to bathe last because you hated bathing after Prompto. How you’d talk about dying your hair because you’d get super stressed about there being this large family of blondes and no one could ever tell whos' hair was in the drain. How you hated salty foods, but you’d definitely eat them if your life was on the line. How you wanted something better than a bunny, but when Cloud told you that he wasn’t going to buy another animal, you were the one to name the bunny Chocobo because it reminded you of Cloud.”

“That you’d never say that you had a favorite color, but everyone pretty much knew it’s silver.” At that, Roxas felt his face heat up, “the fact that you made sure to style your hair a little different from Ven so that you could feel more like an individual. Even… the fact that you really loved Riku.”

“He told you all of that?” Roxas mumbled, “wow…”

“Four years is a lot for some people and Dem is an open book.”

“I _did_ love Riku, yeah.” Roxas confirmed. “Well, I _liked_ him a lot. I cared about him. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to care about Riku as much as he seemed to care about us. When Cloud told us he was our cousin, I was hurt, I gotta admit. I mean, I still care about Riku, but… now he’s with Sora, so I guess that’s something.”

“I heard you cried.”

Roxas gasped, looking at Axel in horror. “Who- who told you that?!”

“I don’t kiss and tell.” Axel grinned, “how are you feelin’?”

“I’m… fine. It makes sense. Riku and I weren’t meant to be a… couple. We weren’t meant to date. I had my eyes set on someone that I _knew_ I would never be able to have.”

“He and Sora were always a better fit.”

“Is that your way of making this better?”

“Who said I was plannin’ on makin’ ya feel better?”

Roxas rolled his eyes, glancing down from the tower, “it made sense. I hoped for something. I wanted something. I… let myself down. But, I did it purposefully. I didn’t stop when I could have. I let myself get too deep. I let myself… I let myself get hurt by this. I tried so hard to just… let it go, but when I talked to Xion and Namine, everything just… _came out_.”

“And that’s okay.” Axel replied, “believe it or not, some peoples’ first loves are family members.”

“Who was yours?”

“Ah- uh.” Roxas glanced over to Axel once he heard the strange sound come from the older man. Axel turned his attention elsewhere, then suddenly dug into his pocket. “Here,” Axel pulled out a familiar chain from his pocket and handed it over to Roxas who made a happy noise as he reached for the necklace, dropping the popsicle stick. “Iunno if I was gonna wait for a more dramatic time, but, I think… I don’t think you should wait for something like this, it’s something you really wanted after all.”

“I’ll-” Roxas held onto the necklace tightly, “I’ll pay you back, I’m so sorry that you got this for me.”

“Don’t.” Axel shook his head, “I got it for you because I want you to be happy.”

“Thank you… Axel.” Roxas smiled softly, unlatching the necklace so that he could put it on. After a few seconds and a bit of help from Axel, Roxas sat admiring his new necklace, shining in the sunsets’ vibrant rays.

“We should get going, Roxy.” Axel tilted his head towards the sun. “By the time I get you home, it’ll be pretty dark.”

“Yeah.”

“Would you say this was a pretty neat-o date?”

“You fed me and let me shop, where you got me a necklace, then took me to a really cool freakin’ tower with a really _really_ nice view _and_ we had a really meaningful conversation _with_ ice cream. Which- that ice cream was pretty freakin’ good by the way. What’s it called?”

“Sea-salt ice cream.”  

“That’s such a dumb name.”

“With a good flavor.”

Roxas gave Axel a warm smile, “I guess it is, yeah.”

“C’mon, I’ll bring you home.”

* * *

“First of all, Roxas has been gone for hours and I’m ready to fight someone. Where is my brother?” Ventus stood in front of the staircase, which caught the attention of Prompto and Demyx who were lounging in the living room watching TV. “I heard him leave earlier and he hasn’t come back yet and it’s damn well close to 10 pm and I haven’t seen my goddamn brother. I just went upstairs, and he’s not there. Where. Is. He.”

“No idea. I thought he was upstairs this whole time.” Prompto gave the other blonde a concerned look, “now that you mention it, he really _has_ been gone a long time.”

“He’s too young to be outside on his own.”

“Isn’t he 18?” Demyx asked.

“I don’t care how old he is! He’s not _here_!” Ventus yelled, “where is my brother?!”

“Why in the world are you yelling, Ven?” The trio turned their attention to Cloud who was slowly walking down the stairs with Denzel following close behind him. “What are you looking for?”

“Roxas! He’s gone missing!”

“Did he storm out?” Cloud asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs. With a simple push, he directed Denzel to join Prompto and Demyx on the couch, where they happily allowed him to sit in between them. “If he did, just give him some time. You know how he gets.”

“You can’t just leave a hot-headed kid like him out on his own in the dark! Gaia knows what’s gonna happen to him!”

“I can promise you, he’s probably safe. If he wasn’t he would have tried to contact you.”

“Do you even care?” Ventus could tell it was from his anger, but he was very concerned and frustrated with how careless Cloud was appearing to be. “Do you really care at all?”

“I do.” Cloud answered simply, “I just don’t think you need to be this worried about him. He’s old enough, and he’s about to graduate from high school. He’s _fine_. He may have a short temper, but he’s not going to let that get him in trouble.”

“I have a feeling he’s going to let his anger get the best of him and it’ll get him in trouble.” Ventus mumbled, “just because you said that.”

“Who’s to say he didn’t go on a date?” Cloud shrugged, “wasn’t he involved with Axel or whatever?”

“Oh, that means they could be doing the dirty-” Prompto started, instantly being stopped by Demyx who pointed aggressively at Denzel.

“I guess that _could_ be a possibility.” Ventus sighed. “I just wanna bond with my little brother.”

“Be patient, he’ll come home.”

On que, the group froze once they heard the front door unlock, revealing a rather happy looking Roxas and a goofy looking Axel. Cloud raised an eyebrow and gave a look of amusement, while Ventus ran forward to hug the unaware Roxas. Prompto and Demyx grinned at each other and turned their attention back to the two that just came into the house. Denzel could only sigh and shake his head, turning his full attention to the TV so that he could watch cartoons.

“What the heck are you doing?!” Roxas yelled, pushing Ventus off of him so that he could take off his shoes. Axel slowly did the same and walked past the pair so that he could be fully in the house. Roxas closed and locked the door behind him and turned back to his brother. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Where the _hell_ were you?” Ventus asked aggressively, taking a step back to grab Axel’s arm. “Were you out there with this _hooligan_?!”

“I-” Roxas rolled his eyes, “why do I need to tell you?”

“Did you do the _dirty_?!” Ventus hissed, “you did, didn’t you?!”

“God- no!” Roxas pulled the ever-so-innocent Axel to his side so that he could stop being hurt by Ventus’ grip. “We just hung out, that’s all.”

“Yeah, the first time I ‘ _hung out_ ’ with Terra, it wasn’t exactly all _innocent_.”

“Ven, calm down.” Cloud took a step forward, placing a hand on Ventus’ shoulder. “Like I said, they probably just had a date night. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Ventus groaned and looked to Roxas, “were you safe the whole time?”

“What? Of course I was.”

“Did he try to do anything to you?”

“No.”

“Did he try to make you do anything you weren’t comfortable with?”

“Not really.”

Axel glanced at Roxas who shrugged in response. Instantly, Ventus’ tone raised, “what the hell did he make you do?”

“He took me to a really fancy restaurant and I’ve never been in one so… he took me somewhere that I was more comfortable with and we ate there. It was pretty cool.” Roxas explained. “He took me to Traverse Town, and it was really nice. We had ice cream… oh!” Roxas reached for his new necklace, “he even got me this necklace! I didn’t know he was gonna buy it and I was just gonna leave without it but he got it and- well… I got a necklace that I really like.”

“Does that answer your questions now, Ven?” Cloud asked. Ventus sighed and nodded slowly, “they had a fun time, let him live his life.”

“I was just…”

“I know, Ven.” Roxas gave his brother a comforting smile.

“What’d you do at Twilight Town aside from that?” Ventus asked.

“We watched the sunset while eating ice cream.”

“Wait,” Ventus placed his hands on his hips, “just the sunset? It’s 2 hours to midnight. The sun _set_ at like 7!”

“Oh, yeah.” Roxas nodded, “It took us an hour to get back here and Axel took me to his place because I never actually got to see his cat yet, so I met Lea and he loves me more than he loves Axel. _Also_ , Destiny, Kairi’s cat, hates my living being.”

“Oh… I… I see.”

“Are you just looking for a reason to hate me?” Axel finally asked, “I feel like you’re purposefully trying to find a reason not to trust me.”

“It’s not that-” Ventus shook his head. “He’s my little brother, and I really care about him. I just… I just want to make sure that he’s okay.”

“Ah, I get it.” Axel nodded, “I’m the same way with Kairi.”

“Siblings usually are the same way.” Cloud spoke, “I’m gonna go for a bit.” Cloud turned to Prompto and Demyx, “do you two mind watching Denzel for me? Make sure he goes to sleep in an hour or two.”

“ _Us_? Taking care of a kid?” Prompto gasped, placing a hand on his chest and a hand on Denzel’s head. “I’ll take care of him, I promise!”

“I’m already concerned.”

“You can trust us!” Demyx grinned.

“I’m very concerned.”

“Where are you going, Cloud?” Roxas asked after a moment.

“I have something I need to do.” Cloud replied simply.

“That’s your answer for _everything_. What is it this time? You gonna go see Sephiroth again? Go find Zack and talk to him like you should have ages ago? Go back to that damn church so that you can _clear your head_ ’ like you did earlier?”

“Rox…” Cloud whispered, “don’t worry about it.”

“Right, because it’s okay for siblings to worry about each other or whatever the hell you were preaching. But if it were me or Ventus, you’d want to know where we went. But if it’s you, it’s just ‘ _something important_ ’ or you tell us not to worry about it.” Roxas grumbled, “there’s no fucking way you care about us as much as you say you do.” He added quietly, “it’s not like you really ever said it either.”

“Roxas, it’s really not something for you to worry about. It’s important for me, but it has nothing to do with you.”

“It never has anything to fucking do with us.” Roxas spoke in a finalizing tone. He grabbed Axel who made a few protests as he bumped past Cloud to go up the stairs.

Cloud couldn’t even bother to stay anything as he glanced to Ven who gave him a concerned look. He let out a sigh and went for the hermit-like door that led to the garage. Ventus glanced over to Prompto and Demyx who matched his look but tried to put on friendly faces to spend time with Denzel.


	7. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Noctis' birthday! 
> 
> It's also the first time you get to see things from Terra's view. Which means, all of the Fair Household kids now have had at least one focus on themselves. 
> 
> There's loads of energy in this chapter for a lot of different reasons, so I hope you enjoy.

Zack usually wasn’t one for late night club visits when it came to parties or getting drunk. Or, that’s what he liked to let people think, anyway. He knew people usually didn’t believe him but who’s to say? Zack was known for being a social butterfly and also a social drinker, he loved hanging out with his friends and having a great drink. So this night, he spent it hanging out with his best SOLDIER friend, Kunsel. Kunsel in a way was like an information broker, he loved knowing the information about what happened around the city.

Now, Zack usually wasn’t the type of person who would be willing to leave a city when the kid he was supposed to be protecting was in danger, but upon getting a call from Kunsel, Zack hopped on his motorcycle and drove to Midgar. Of course, it was now close to 3 in the morning, Zack was exhausted and Kunsel was as lively as ever. They had really only talked once so far, but Kunsel had a purpose and when he finished his task, he’d come join Zack on the free bar stool right next to him.

Zack had ordered a drink he was once rather familiar with, before he moved from Midgar to Radiant Garden to be close to Cloud. He took the occasional sip from his glass as he watched the bartender walk back and forth helping other customers. It didn’t take too much longer before Kunsel slowly made his way to his raven haired friend, giving him a warm hug and a goofy smile.

“Hey bud.”

“Hey Zack.” Kunsel grinned, “you ready to go? I got all I need here.”

“Sure.” Zack nodded, waving to the bartender to say goodnight before heading out with his friend. As they hit the cold night air, Zack let out a sigh of relief. “What was all of that about anyways? What info were you tryna get from two strippers and an old dude?”

“I’m doing a few secret missions for Shinra at the moment, so I can’t tell ya until they’re ready to start debriefing it all.”

“That’s a lie, you can tell me.”

“I _would_ , but I don’t wanna~.” Kunsel gave Zack a cheeky smile, “you wanna come back to my place so that you can rest? I feel bad that I dragged you out here but I don’t really wanna talk about it until later today.”

“Okay, well, uh,” Zack groaned for a moment, “I need to get back by _tomorrow night_ , Kunsel. Noct’s birthday is in 2 days and-”

“Shit! That’s right! I have a present for him that he might really like, it’s back at my place though.”

“I’ll be sure to give it to him.”

* * *

Zack chuckled at the mini fishing rod plush toy that Kunsel had apparently gotten for Noctis. He said something about not really knowing the kid despite how much Zack talked about him, so he felt happy and satisfied with getting something as cute as the fishing rod. Kunsel apparently came across it one day when he was shopping for some apartment supplies, and decided it was the best gift for the kid.

“So, what’s going on in Casa de Fair?” Kunsel asked with a grin, “fill me in with the details.”

“Well, Xion was originally really excited for Noct’s birthday, but after what happened, she’s been pretty bummed. Terra’s doing normal Terra things, and Noct and Umbra are attached at the hip, basically.”

“Those aren’t _details_. I coulda figured that stuff out just by lookin’ at em.”

“I don’t know what to tell you Kuns, they’re not hard to handle. It just sucks that Noct can’t do what he really wants to do.”

“I’d be pretty bummed too. I can only imagine how shitty it must feel for him to be the prince of a dying kingdom.”

“Well, actually-” Zack cleared his throat, “ _technically_ he’d be the king, now.”

“ _Right_ , his dad is dead.”

Zack nodded, placing the plush on the table next to him. “It’s a really shitty way to find out too. He said that his last words to his dad were him shrugging him off. He didn’t think much of his adventure, but he felt hurt that his dad would even send him away.”

“Well, Regis knew you’d do your best to keep him safe. You’re his cousin, after all.”

“I guess…” Zack sighed, “I just wish I could see the happy and lazy Noctis again.”

“I could only imagine.”

“Well Kuns, it’s like 5 in the morning, I’m exhausted, and I’m _really_ curious about what info you have for me to have to drive up here so early. Get me a blanket and one of your best pillows, I’m ready to sleep the hell outta this couch.”

“Oh! Yeah sure! Just give me a sec. We’ll definitely talk tomorrow, okay?”

“For sure, yeah.”

* * *

Terra shook his head as he tried to find the perfect sentence to connect the plot with the writing. He had been stuck for a few days now, even though he didn’t want to admit it. Ventus at some point had assumed the worst, that he had a major case of writer’s block, which was very possible. He hadn’t been able to bounce off ideas to Ventus for a few days, since for some reason that blonde as been acting rather tense.

He assumed it was just something that happened with the Strife kids. Roxas seemed to always be tense when things didn’t go the right way, Cloud seemed to be rather tense _all the time_ , unless he was with Zack, by the looks of things. Then Ventus seemed to be quite tense when he doesn’t know what exactly he could do to help.

Though, lately Ventus hasn’t wanted to do much aside from sleep and play games. Which wasn’t particularly unusual, it was something that Ventus liked to do when he was spending time with Terra, but it seemed to be a lot more than usual now. If he weren’t playing games in Terra’s room, he’d be asleep. Ventus was usually the type to check on Terra to make sure he was getting his work done beforehand, but he seemed to be quite tired lately.

Terra figured it was about that time for him to actually make an effort to do something with his life so that he wouldn’t become unhealthy or anything of the sort, but that also meant that he’d have to step away from his writing.

Maybe he just needed to clear his mind, actually.

Terra stood from his spot, eyeing the screen in front of him as the cursor continued to blink, taunting him to try and type more. He let out a groan and shook his head, deciding it was best to just find something else to do with his day. If the words weren’t going to come out now, they were bound to come out later. Well… hopefully. He made his way down the stairs, making eye contact with the ever so quiet but happy dog, Umbra.

“Maybe spending time with you would help me with writing.” Terra spoke as he went to pet Umbra. Umbra looked at him happily, following Terra the moment he had decided to walk into the kitchen to get something to eat. “It really shocks me that you’re basically Nocts’ emotional support dog.”

Umbra tilted his head curiously, sitting while panting. “Don’t look at me like that.” Terra mumbled as he turned his attention to the fridge. “There’s 2 days left until Nocts’ birthday, how do you feel?”

Umbra barked and began panting louder, “I guess you’re pretty stoked, huh.” Terra replied, turning his attention to Umbra who barked again while wagging his tail. “Yeah, you look pretty happy.” Terra let out a chuckle, “whaddya wanna do? Go for a random walk?” Umbra barked again. “Alright, let's go then.”

Terra went to the front door, picking up his keys and putting on his shoes quickly enough to keep up with Umbra’s excitement. The moment he opened the door, Umbra ran out and peed in the grass. Terra rolled his eyes and grabbed a few poop bags for Umbra and left the building, locking the door behind him. Umbra began running around playfully, waiting for Terra to keep up with him. They walked around various areas, Terra allowing Umbra to take the lead.

Terra of course, was pretty concerned. He wasn’t fond of forcing Umbra to be on a leash, he loved letting Umbra roam free. But with how things have been going around the town, and what had happened to him before, Umbra refused to even let _Noctis_ put a leash on him. It didn’t seem like Umbra was very concerned about anything else aside from being able to track down a few birds and the occasional squirrel.

At one point, Umbra tripped over his own feet because he was so happy to be able to pee next to a tree. Terra didn’t understand why he was so excited, but he smiled at the goofy dog who pranced around the tree looking for animals to bark at. At another point, Umbra had gotten so excited he decided to poop in a bush, which led to Terras’ difficulty in being able to pick it up, silently cursing Umbra for his tricky poop placement.

Once Terra looked up, he made eye contact with an unfamiliar face. Umbra didn’t look too bothered by the man, but he definitely gave a confused look as Terra stood from his spot, tying up the bag. “Vanitas?” Terra whispered as a way to make sure he even had Soras’ brothers’ name right.

“This the dog?” Vanitas asked, “Noctis’ dog?”

Umbra barked and jumped up to put his paws on Vanitas’ chest, asking for pets and head scratches that Vanitas agreed to. “Yeah, that’s Umbra.” Terra replied, “what are you doing here?”

“I’m taking a walk. I gotta work out somehow.” Vanitas shrugged, “I’m guessing you’re taking this out for a walk too?”

“Something like that.” Terra nodded, “c’mon Umbra, let’s keep going. You got your pets.”

Umbra refused to move, most likely due to the fact that Vanitas had continued to pet his head and scratch behind his ears. “You have any place in mind?” Vanitas asked after a moment of silence.

“Not really.”

“I see.”

There were moments like this that confused Terra. Vanitas had rarely ever even bothered to talk to him before this, the moment Vanitas found out that he and Ventus were able to hit it off, he stopped looking at Terra as a friend, or an enemy. Vanitas dropped all communication with Ventus and suddenly disappeared, in a way, from their friend groups. After a while, the only person that was able to keep tabs on Vanitas was Sora, who was barely able to talk or see his brother as he was feeling shut out.

Terra and Vanitas, truth be told, have never been good friends. While Terra would try and have conversations with Vanitas, Vanitas would refuse to even look his way. That was when Terra began to feel Vanitas pulling away from his friendship. Vanitas would slowly use fewer words to talk with him, he’d dodge eye contact when Terra asked questions, he’d make excuses so they wouldn’t be able to hang out as a group with him, Aqua and Ventus. Terra hadn’t actually caught on until Vanitas cut all ties from talking with Ventus. That’s when everything set.

Vanitas didn’t like them much anymore, but that was because Terra and Ventus had become official.

“Was there… uh,” Terra cleared his throat, “any reason for you to come talk to me?”

“No.” Vanitas slowly pushed Umbra down, hinting to the dog that he was done giving affection. “Like I said before, I was taking a walk.”

“Right… to work out.” Terra nodded slowly, giving Umbra a quick pet as he came to sit by Terra’s side. “Well, uh…”

“Bye.” Vanitas gave a disinterested wave as he turned to continue his walk.

Terra let out a heavy sigh once Vanitas was far enough away and looked down to Umbra. “He never even said my name.” Terra muttered. “C’mon, we should be getting back home.”

* * *

Terra once again sat in front of his computer, hands placed on the keyboard as he thought, unsure of what to write. He’d been stuck like this for hours, thinking of words, something, _anything_ that could work. With a heavy sigh, he dropped his head back over his chair, groaning as he placed his hands on his face. “UGH.”

With no inspiration to write, Terra slowly got up from his seat, decided to once again retreat from his room and make his way down the stairs. His timing felt perfect as he moment he hit the bottom step, the door opened to reveal both Ventus _and_ Zack entering, both laughing over something that was said beforehand.

“It’s already night time?” Terra asked, looking at the glimpse of darkness beginning to settle in the sky as Zack locked the door behind him.

“It’s like, 7pm, Terra.” Zack grinned as he tossed his keys with the pile of other keys and took his shoes off. Ventus had already taken his shoes off and took the initiative to run, jump and hug his boyfriend.

“Hey Terra!” Ventus greeted.

“Hey Ven.” Terra gave the blonde a smile. “It’s really already that late? How’d being with Kunsel go?” He asked as he looked up to Zack who had made his way into the kitchen to look for food.

“I found out a good bit of things, actually.” Zack confirmed, grabbing a pre-made sandwich from the fridge. “Who made this?” He asked, waving the sandwich so that Terra could see.

“Probably Xion.” Terra shrugged, “I’d eat it.”

“Yeah, I’ll eat it.” Zack grinned, leaving the kitchen so that he could look at Terra and Ventus fully. “But yeah, Kuns told me a lot. Stuff about Shinra’s condition, mainly. And, well… Lucis may not be _completely_ safe, but it’s safer than it once was. Eos even got its quick sweep of guards passing through. But, it looks like they’re searching elsewhere now. And I have a feeling that _elsewhere_ is _here_.”

“They managed to track down Noctis somehow?” Ventus asked, looking at Zack with concern. “Did Noctis bring anything unusual with him?”

“Not that I know of.” Zack shook his head, “it was just him and a bag of clothes.” He took a bite out of his sandwich.

“ _And_ the Regalia.” Terra pointed out.

“Yeah, and _we_ were the ones that brought the ring here.” Zack said as he swallowed. “Who’s to say that they followed the ring and not anything else.”

“You think they have a tracker on the family ring?” Terra asked.

“Who knows.” Zack sighed, taking another bite.

“It didn’t seem like it took too long for them to find him, either.” Ventus added.

“Maybe they didn’t follow any of the things that belonged to Noctis. Maybe they followed _you guys_.” Terra said, pointing at Zack.

“Us?” Zack practically choked as he swallowed the sandwich, “I guess that could be a possibility. I definitely could have led them straight to Noct.”

“What are we gonna do? We can’t have these guys hunting down Noctis every day of his life. I don’t want Noct to feel like he can’t even be safe in a place with his own cousin.” Ventus’ voice was filled with concern, “this feel so shitty!”

“We’ll figure something out, don’t worry too much about it, Ven.” Zack reassured the blonde, “even if SOLDIER won’t help, _I_ will. I’ll keep Noct safe.”

“I believe you, Zack.” Ventus nodded.

“Zack, have you had time to really uh, _talk_ to Cloud lately?”

“Not really.” Zack shook his head, “but after Noct’s birthday. Right now I’m more concerned about Noct than Cloud.”

“I’m shocked to hear you show priorities.” Terra teased.

“Yeah… it’s hard for me to do this, but I’m just banking on the hope that Cloud understands.” Zack shrugged, “Imma go finish this sandwich. The drive home has me super tired so I’ll talk to you kiddies tomorrow.” Zack excused himself as he took another bite of his sandwich while walking up the stairs. Ventus turned his attention back to Terra, and gave a goofy smile.

“So, how was your day?”

“It was pretty good, I guess.” Terra shrugged, “wanna go to my room? I need some help with the writing.”

“Oh! Yeah, okay!” With a smile, Ventus followed Terra back up the steps and into his room, where they both laid down on Terra’s bed cuddled closely. Terras' arm was under Ventus’ head but he was able to use his hand to play with Ventus’ hair. They laid like this for a long while, embracing each others silence. It wasn’t until the sky outside had become pitch black that Ventus decided to talk.

“So, you wanted help with writing?” Ventus asked, looking up at Terra.

“Huh?” Terra initially let out a noise, and after a moment, he jumped up from his spot forcing Ventus to be pushed up with him. “Oh! Shit, I completely forgot.” Terra got up from his bed and went to his computer, opening up the file where he had his current chapter patiently waiting to be finished. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m pretty damn sure I have writer's block or something but… the schedule is tight now for this story, especially for me to send it to Axel.”

Terra let Ventus take his time reading over the chapter, hearing the occasional “hmm” or “oh, I see” come from the blonde. At some point, Ventus had sat on Terras’ lap in order to continue reading without having to stand up. Ventus even went through and began to edit a few things here and there. It didn’t take too long for Ventus to actually catch up to where Terra had stopped, making a noise in thought.

“Hmm,” Ventus started, “where _did_ you want to go for this chapter?”

“Honestly, at this point, I have no idea.” Terra sighed, “I felt like I knew, and I just decided to let my mind ramble in a coherent way, but this one doesn’t seem to be working as well as I want it to.”

“Maybe you should just let your mind keep rambling. For some people, just typing things that’s still a part of the story but doesn’t really have anything to do with the story can help them write. It’ll help put you more into the characters mindsets and all that good stuff.” Ventus suggested, looking back to Terra, watching him as he slowly nodded, taking in the words.

“I guess so, but I might do that in another document or something.”

“Oh, yeah definitely.” Ventus grinned, “so, have you just been stuck writing this all day?”

“Just about, yeah,” Terra nodded, “also… have you talked to Vanitas lately?”

“Vanitas?” Ventus raised his eyebrow, “no? I haven’t seen him in months.”

“I saw him earlier today when I took Umbra for a walk. He said _he_ was taking a walk, so…”

“You actually got to talk to him? How was he?”

“He seemed fine.” Terra shrugged, “he also didn’t really say much.”

“That sounds like something he’d usually do, yeah.” Ventus chuckled, “nice to know he’s still the same.”

“He also never called me by name, so I guess he’s still not too happy about us.”

“I still feel bad, I wouldn’t have ever guessed-”

“It’s okay, Ven. It’s not your fault.”  

“I know, but still-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Terra interrupted again, placing a hand on Ventus’ cheek. “He looked fine, he’s taking care of himself.”

“I wish he’d talk to me more.”

“It’s really not worth the effort. He’s just going to drop you again, and it won’t go well for you again.”

Ventus gave Terra a skeptical look, “he was still my friend.”

“I know, but he dropped you. If he doesn’t want to be your friend anymore, or have anything to do with you, it’s not worth it. He didn’t even ask me about you, he doesn’t care.”

Terra hated the fact that Ventus looked sad whenever it came to Vanitas, “yeah… maybe you’re right…”

“You wanna go to bed? I’ll work on the writing tomorrow.”

“... sure…”

* * *

Xion, even though she was as happy as she could be, absolutely _hated_ the day before a friend’s birthday. For some reason, it gave her anxiety as she hoped, wished and prayed for her friend to have something _amazing_ for their birthday. So, she finally decided that she was gonna put on one of her favorite pairs of ripped ash-washed jeans, a bright, almost golden tank top, and the cutest matching headband with a golden bow. Her plan for the day? Hang out with Aerith.

Something told Xion that Aerith would be more than happy for her to help around in the garden that she had built. It wasn’t too far away, but she’d definitely have to rely on Zack or Axel to take her to the shop. So, she ran down the stairs, a grin on her face and her phone in her hand ready to call Aerith to tell her the good news. Xion assumed that Zack was the one downstairs watching the TV as loud as ever, because that was just something Zack did when he had the time.

Unfortunately, it was not Zack.

But _Noctis_.

“Noct?” Xion spoke as she moved closer to the lazy boy. “Why’re you down here? Where’s Zack? I thought he was watching the TV.” Xion knew she would have recognized if Noctis was the one watching the TV if she heard the classic fishing man talking about the strange amounts of fish that he liked to catch. This however, was a show that Zack liked watching about building motorcycles, talking about cars and driving from one city to another. Something called _Bottom Gear_ or whatever.

“Zack was here earlier, he said something about going to see a friend.” Noctis shrugged, his eyes trained on the TV. “You don’t sound very happy to see me.”

“Yeah, no I’m happy to see you too! I was just _really_ looking forward to seeing Zack, I need him.” Xion placed her hands on her hips, “do you know when he’ll be back?”

“He didn’t give a time, so, no.” Noctis heard Xion sigh, choosing to glance over to look at her as she unlocked her phone. “What are you doing? Why are you so… dressed up?”

“Callin’ Axel, and I’m not _really_ dressed up, it’s just somethin’ fun to make me feel happier about what I’m gonna be doing today.”

“What were you planning on doing today?”

“Hang out with Aerith.” Xion mumbled, clicking on Axel’s number, “gonna help her with her garden for the day, basically.”

“I see.”

Xion nodded, almost ready to press the ‘call’ button before she looked back at Noctis, “do you wanna come with? It’ll be fun, I promise. Flowers are really fun and super pretty, and Aerith makes the visits worth our time. _Plus_ , you won’t be stuck here doing nothing.”

It seemed like the last comment caught Noctis’ attention as he sat up from his seat, “I don’t know how Zack watches this show. It’s really not that fun.”

“He likes his vehicles.” Xion shrugged, “you wanna come?”

“Sure.”

Xion smiled, calling Axel to ask if he could come pick she and Noctis up. Once Axel gave her a time, Xion grinned and hang up, thanking him. “Great! He’ll be here in like 10 minutes, so go get ready to get dirty!”

“You didn’t say I’d get _dirty_.” Noctis groaned.

“Trust me, it’ll be _fun!_ ”

As the minutes passed by, Noctis retreated to his room to change into something more comfortable, and they waited, making fun of the show Zack seemed to love to watch so much before Xion had received a message from Axel saying that he was outside. Xion and Noctis left the house and hopped into Axels’ car, giving the red-head a stupid grin.

“So, Aeriths’ place, huh?”

“Yep!” Xion confirmed, sitting in the back seat buckling her seatbelt. Noctis chose to sit in the front. “And I’m now bringing Noct with me so that we can have some fun together!”

“Is it safe for Noctis to be goin’ around like this though?” Axel asked, turning to look at Noctis with a concerned look. “I don’t want anything to happen to ya.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not afraid and I _won’t_ be afraid if something happens.” Noctis spoke confidently, “now c’mon, I wanna see what Aerith does with her shop.”

“Trust me, okay Ax?” Xion grinned, “we’ll be fine.”

“If you guys say so.”

* * *

Noctis officially decided that he absolutely hated working with flowers. He hated having to touch the dirt, or risk the chance that a bug would pop out to greet him. He hated having to guess which flowers belonged where, and which flowers looked better beside the others. He _absolutely_ hated knowing that people _liked_ doing this for a living.

At one point, Noctis found himself glaring at Aerith as she happily sold flowers to a few people here and there who were looking for romantic gifts for their loved ones. He hated watching her talk about which flowers represented what, or which flowers were more suitable for their level of romance. He hated knowing that she knew _so much_ about this.

Even though it’s her shop.

Noctis groaned when Xion asked him to pick up a pot of dirt, one of which he had vowed from earlier to never touch. It was _filled_ to the brim with random types of bugs crawling back and forth under the various layers of dirt. He practically threw the pot once it reached its destination from when he laid eyes on a worm threatening his existence. Or so, that’s how he felt.

Xion was having the time of her life, sure, her super bright and golden tank top was dirtied in the process, she was able to help Aerith section off a variety of different flowers. Xion herself had never understood the language of flowers before, but Zack had always told her that Aerith was a good person to look for when it came to this topic. At one point she had been extremely disinterested in flower language, but after getting to know Aerith, she had wondered if she would be able to use this language to woo someone of interest in the future.

Xion gave one of the warmest smiles she could muster as a man came to ask her about a flower by the name of iris, one that she always loved looking at. She gave him the explanation for the purple, blue and yellow irises to which he gave a satisfied nod of the head, placing his hand under his chin, rubbing his chin hair stubble. He had a large black hat that covered his red hair, but Xion could somewhat see it. He sounded kind enough, however.

Aerith took Noctis into the back sometime earlier so that she could talk with him about how to properly arrange the flowers, since she realized that Noctis had become lazy with his tasks. They were there for a few hours now after all, and it was at least 3 pm. Aerith left Xion in charge of the sales until she was able to come back.

“How much would these flowers usually cost?” The man asked her.

“They’re not too expensive,” Xion smiled as she handed a paper with the price written on it. “Sometimes they’re a special order though. Is there a reason why you want these?”

“Not particularly, but the name is very familiar.”

“Really?” Xion asked, “that’s funny. I like these flowers too because it reminds me of a friend of mine.”

“A friend of yours? Really?” The man sounded quite interested in what she had to say, “is her name also _Iris_?”

“Yep!” Xion replied happily. The man gave her a look that instantly led her to be more cautious with her words, “did you want to buy these today?”

“I suppose I should.” The man went through the effort of taking enough munny out of his wallet, sliding it over to Xion as he took the small bouquet of irises. “Thank you so much, miss.”

“Yeah, no problem!” Xion waved to the man as he walked away. The moment he stepped out of the shop Noctis and Aerith came from the back. Aerith gave Xion a warm greeting while Noctis eyed the front door to the shop. “Welcome back you two. D’ya get Noctis to actually do work?”

“He picked things up rather quickly, but of course it was because of the bugs that he didn’t want to do too much.” Aerith smiled and shook her head. “Either way, the two of you have been a great help.”

“Xion, who was that guy that just left?” Noctis asked, moving closer to the counter to talk to his cousin. “Did he say anything weird to you?”

“Huh?” Xion raised an eyebrow, “he was a little strange, but he wanted to know about the irises, so I told him all about them.” Xion shrugged, “he didn’t say anything weird to me, I think. Why?”

Noctis stayed silent for a moment, earning concerned looks rom Xion and Aerith. “It’s nothing, I’m probably just going crazy. Can we go back home now? I think I’ve had enough with _dirt_ and _bugs_ today.”

“Sure, I’ll call Axel!”

“Thank you two for your help today. Come by any time~!”

* * *

The next morning Zack and Terra forcefully woke Noctis by jumping on his bed rather roughly. Umbra had joined in for the final hop and the good morning licks. Noctis groaned as he woke up, dog slobber all on his face.

“Ugh, ew!” Noctis yelled, “gross Umbra!”

“Happy birthday~!” Zack yelled, ruffling Noctis’ hair.

“Happy birthday you little brat.” Terra grinned, getting off of Noctis’ bed.

“You guys are super heavy, and I don’t appreciate being ambushed like this.” Noctis grumbled and groaned, feeling Zack’s weight lift off of him with Umbra hopping off the bed as well. “Thank you though.”

“I’ve got a great day planned for you, and I think you’re gonna enjoy it. If you don’t… then I clearly am super bad at planning birthdays and I’m gonna need to go back to birthday plannin’ school.” Zack grinned with his hands on his hips. “Go get ready to go out and meet us downstairs!”

“Wha-” Noctis couldn’t even protest. The moment the words came out, Zack, Terra and Umbra had already left his room. “What the hell…” Noctis mumbled to himself.

Xion was downstairs with Luna finishing the perfect breakfast. They made a mass breakfast to feed at least ten, since their dining room table had a few extra chairs placed around them. Gladio, Iris, Ignis and Prompto made sure to come over a little earlier so they could help set the table. Once Zack and Terra came running down the steps, the group began to socialize with each other and make jokes.

“How’d you wake him up?” Luna asked as she placed the bowl of perfectly scrambled eggs on the dining table.

“We jumped on the bed and let Umbra lick his face.” Zack grinned, taking a seat near the end of the table.

“Yeah, Umbra stayed upstairs though, so he probably felt a little bad.” Terra chuckled, sitting in the seat next to Zack.

Ignis glanced over to Zack, “what _exactly_ is your plan for Noctis’ birthday?”

“We’re takin’ him out the damn house.” Zack stated, “we’re gonna go out, and we’re gonna have fun. He’s 21 now so there’s a lot more than he can do. Hell, we can even take him out to the bars that you and I go to, Gladio.”

“You and Gladio go to bars?!” Prompto yelled, earning a few hushes in response. “How come _I_ never knew about that?”

“Gladdy, Iggy and I hang out every now and again when we don’t have work to do. Which is how _I_ was able to plan for them to come here for Nocts’ birthday, of course.” Zack said with a sense of confidence.

“Well that sounds wonderful.” Luna smiled, sitting to the left of Iris which was the seat closest to the end on the opposite side of where Zack was.

“Man, I’m super excited to see Noct’s face when he sees all of this _food_!” Xion jumped in joy. She placed a rice bowl by the edge of the table. The spot designated for the birthday boy. “Noctis has so many favorite meals, and literally _all_ of his favorite meals involves meat. That guy is really something else.”

“Imagine having to take care of him when he was a hopeless teenager that didn’t want to go to high school.” Ignis pointed out, placing his hands on the table. “He’s a fan of sandwiches and burgers, from what I found out.”

“Yeah, Noct and I used to go out for burgers all the time after our classes ended.” Prompto grinned, “those are pretty fun times, I gotta admit.”

“I know you said you wanted us to specifically make _this_ meal,” Luna pointed to the rice bowl, “but what’s the significance of it?”

“If I remember correctly, it’s called the _Mother and Child Rice bowl_. When Noctis first saw this, he wanted to eat it. But I never had the chance to make it.” Ignis spoke, “I’m sure he’d love it so much more if it came from someone that he loved.”

“Aww!” Xion jumped once more, “that’s the cutest freakin’ thing I’ve ever heard in my _life_!”

As their conversation continued for a while, the group froze and quieted down once they heard Umbra barking as he ran down the steps. With grins on their faces, they watched Noctis slowly walk down the stairs. He wore a simple black pair of jeans with a white t-shirt that had a simple grey stripe across his chest as the design.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOCTIS!” The group yelled in unison, startling the raven.

“Jeez- what… what is this?” Noctis asked as he walked closer to the dining room, eying all of the food on the table. “There’s so much food here.”

“There’s 9 of us, we’re all _hungry_ and we were waiting for you so that we could eat and leave and have _fun_.” Gladio opened his arms to point at all of the food in front of him. “So get your butt over here and let's have a good meal.”

Noctis gave Gladio a warm smile as he was directed to his seat at the edge of the table. He eyed the meal in front of him and instantly looked up to Ignis, “is this-”

“Yes, I made a special request to have it made for you today.”

“Wow…” Noctis looked back at the rice bowl, “thank you.”

Zack instantly went to ruffle Noctis’ hair, “you gotta remember to give Luna a great birthday too as a thank you, next week.”

Noctis nodded and looked to Luna, “thanks for being here, Luna.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss your birthday for anything in the world.”

“Should we eat then?”

“With pleasure!”

* * *

After their big breakfast, Zack informed Noctis that they’d be using the Regalia today, even with everything that was going on. He also informed Noctis that they’d be taking two cars to drive around the place, but he’d be with Gladio, Ignis, Prompto and Luna. Zack insisted that he ride with Terra, Iris and Xion in a car that Noctis didn’t even know Zack _owned_.

So, Noctis sat in the back seat next to Luna who sat in the middle and Gladio who sat on the far right side. Prompto sat in the passenger seat and Ignis took the wheel. Noctis could hardly hide his excitement as he practically jumped up from his spot, running his hands over the seats and the side of the Regalia.

“I missed you so much, girl.” Noctis whispered as he ran his hand along the door. “So much.”

“Noct, we need you to put your seat-belt on so that we can go.” Luna smiled as she tapped Noctis’ back. He had put on a fashionable jacket to keep himself relatively warm since the days felt like they were getting colder. “Zack said something about us being on a schedule, a tight one. So, we need to go!”

“I _know_ but… the Regalia…” Noctis whined, “I missed her. I haven’t seen her in _ages_.”

“You’ll get to love the Regalia while we’re drivin’ c’mon!” Gladio groaned, pulling Noctis’ leg.

Noctis sighed and sat, buckling his seat-belt as Ignis started the car. Luna gave Noctis a warm smile, rubbing his shoulder soothingly as he went to reach for Ignis’ seat in front of him. It was obvious how happy he was, even though he had just seen the Regalia a few days ago. His excitement and happiness for being in a vehicle that he loved just flowed through him. Noctis was confident to admit just how happy he was. He loved the Regalia, he loved his friends, he loved his family and he loved Luna.

An hour or so passed by the time they were able to get out of the cars. Ignis chose to park in the spot right next to Zack, and once Noctis jumped out the Regalia to stretch he took notice of just where they were.

An amusement park.

Noctis was never able to go to an amusement park and enjoy himself, so his excitement meter rose in anticipation. Prompto joined him not too long after, followed by Xion and Iris who insisted they go on roller coasters first.

“If you’ve never rode a roller coaster, I _swear_ you’re going to love this!” Xion insisted, pushing Noctis towards the entrance of the park.

“Just don’t get lost in here, okay?” Zack spoke loud enough for them to hear, “we took you guys here to have fun, not to get lost.”

“I’ll make sure to keep a close eye on Noct, don’t worry!” Prompto grinned, pointing to himself.

“And when Prompto _loses_ Noct, I’ll be right with him to make sure he’s okay.” Iris grinned, grabbing Noctis’ arm. Prompto stuck out his tongue, earning a laugh from the group.

“Yeah, we’ll all be around,” Terra started, “there’s a water-park side to this too, Noct.”

“This is the only amusement park that allows you to _fish_.” Ignis stated, “we assumed you’d enjoy doing this.”

“Wait, there’s a water park side to this? I didn’t get dressed for that.” Noctis poked at his shirt.

Zack grinned, holding up the bag that he picked up at some point before they started their walk to the entrance, “I’ve got your clothes here. Just let me know when you wanna head that way, alright? I figure it’ll be more fun to do all the dry stuff first before gettin’ all wet.”

“Oh- yeah, for sure.” Noctis grinned, looking down to Iris who was still holding onto his arm, “you ready to go?”

“Yep!” Iris grinned playfully.

As they were nearing their goal, Xion decided to walk a little slower so that she could talk to Luna, who seemed to have already been having the time of her life. “Luna?” Xion questioned, “are you okay with Iris doing that?”

“She’s just having fun, I would never want someone to stop me from having fun.” Luna said with a smile, “besides, Noctis deserves to have as many friends as possible.”

“Yeah, after everything, this seemed to be the best thing for him.”

“Just as long as everyone is okay, that’s all that really matters.”

Xion nodded, “let's make sure to keep a close eye out for him, okay? You and me, protecting the prince.”

“Of course, Xion!” Luna let out a giggle, “let's make sure to have fun too.”

“Yeah!”

* * *

Noctis and Xion sat on one of the beach chairs given to them at the water-park section. They were completely exhausted, but in a good way. The group spent a few hours running around the amusement park section riding roller coasters, spinning teacups, playing with bumper cars and frankly just running around with Prompto and Iris as they enjoyed every moment of it.

Well, to be fair, Noctis enjoyed it up until Xion forced him to ride a strangely tall ride that brought him extremely high in the air and forced them to fall at an amazing speed. Noctis’ hair not only was messed up after that, but Luna took a picture so that she could chuckle at it later. Prompto said something about him being a rival for the “Chocobo squad” and told him to stay with his own household. That literally made no sense to Noctis, but he nodded and rolled with it.

Sometime later, Iris dragged him onto the Ferris wheel and said something about not liking heights unless Noctis was near her. So they sat opposite of each other as the Ferris wheel slowly went up and around, with Noctis letting Iris ramble about how she’s been and how happy she is. However, Noctis felt weird the moment Iris told him to “keep his head high”, the contents of those words instantly reminding him of his father as he looked at her solemnly.

Once Noctis decided it was time for them to hit the water park section, Iris and Xion instantly threw off their clothes, racing in their bikinis to get to the park first. Zack had offered for Noctis to take a bag to put his dry clothes in so that he could safely change into his swimming clothes once they got into the area. Gladio took the initiative to take off his own shirt, handing it to Ignis, as he decided to chase after the two girls so they could play in the water. Ignis was quite disappointed with Gladio’s sudden urge to be childish, but he felt it was for the sake of taking care of Iris.

Once they made it to the water park section, Luna had taken off her pants and her shirt, kindly handing it to Zack as she decided to go and wait for Noctis to get changed. Once he was ready, she offered for them to check out the lazy river. Noctis never realized that he’d love a place like that, but with the word “lazy” in there, it made a lot of sense. Though there were a lot of kids and older people lounging around as they allowed their bodies to float lazily in the river, Noctis and Luna happily followed through.

The couple spent an hour lounging in the water, conversing and enjoying each others’ company as they at one point held hands. Luna had even admitted she wasn’t used to taking her time doing things, but she loved taking the days slowly when it came to Noctis. Noctis explained that he wasn’t a romantic type of person, so he figured this was the best way to go about their relationship.

At some point, Terra found the two of them in the midst of their conversation and suggested for them to follow him. It didn’t take them too long to dodge the few people around them and get out of the river, following Terra not too far away from where they were. Terra led them to a fishing area that was filled with fresh seawater and fresh fish. Noctis’ eyes instantly lit up, and he was shocked to see Ignis and Prompto already on a boat fishing up a few little fish here and there.

Noctis ran to get one of the free reserved boats, which Terra told him it was reserved for him due to his birthday, his love for fishing and Zack being able to swindle the lady worker who seems to now be in love with him. Luna had insisted that Noctis enjoy his fishing trip with his friends, and she’d be fine watching from the deck. Without a second thought, Noctis hopped into the boat and somehow at some point Gladio came by and joined him, and they were off with all of their fishing gear to join Ignis and Prompto on their own boat.

They continued to fish until the sun started to threaten to set, it was around 5 pm now by the time Zack called for the four of them to come back because he managed to find Xion and Iris, and it was about that time for them to go so they could get dinner. It didn’t take too long for the four to return to the deck, with Noctis holding up his prized fish, a really heavy native fish to the area which had to be thrown back for others to catch later, but they celebrated nonetheless.  

That was when Xion egged Noctis on for them to have a race. She still had a lot of energy left, even after playing around so much with Iris, and wanted to prove that she was _much_ faster than Noctis. This led Noctis to nervously agree, and soon they were off. Their goal was the beach chairs, and whomever had won would have bragging rights _and_ the ability to sit on one of their reserved beach chairs. Though, by the way they were huffing and puffing, the two couldn’t even manage to argue about the situation as they both sat on either side of the chair trying to catch their breath.

“I…” Xion tried to speak, “I _think_ … I won…”

Noctis sighed and took a deep breath, “no… no way… _I_ won…”

“I… I sat… first…”

“And…? I was… faster…”

“The two of you look exhausted.” Luna spoke, catching their attention. “Maybe you two should wash off all the pool and ocean water and get back into your regular clothes. We have a reservation at 7 pm and it’s almost 6.”

“Ugh…” Noctis groaned, trying his best to stand from his spot with help from Luna. “I’ll be right… back.” He huffed through breaths, taking his bag filled with dry clothes with him as he went to the shower area.

“I won, didn’t I?” Xion asked after she caught more of her breath, “I totally did.”

“Well, you _sat_ first. But the race was for you guys to _reach_ the chairs first.” Luna said with a concerned smile.

“Didn’t Noct make it here first?” Xion heard Iris say as she walked up behind Luna. “That’s what it looked like, anyway.”

“You just wanna side with Noct,” Xion teased.

“We should get ready to go, okay?” Luna offered, pointing towards the shower area, “if we don’t get going now, we won’t make the reservation.”

“You’re definitely more punctual than Zack is. He’d let us stay here and completely forget about the fact that we have a reservation.” Xion grinned. Luna could only chuckle and shake her head, turning with Iris following closely behind as they went to go to the showers. Xion picked up her clothes and slowly made her way after them, not minding that they left her behind.

Xion however, caught a familiar face in her passing. A man with a large black hat, curly red hair, and strange stubble passed her by. She could have sworn she saw a smirk on his lips, but she hadn’t paid enough attention to the man from before. She turned her head to look for him, but he seemingly vanished from view. Xion blinked a few times, nearly dropping her clothes out of her hands as she shook her head and went to focus on taking her shower.

By the time Xion had returned to the group, Noctis, Zack, Terra, Ignis and Iris were all searching around the area, looking for something. Concerned, Xion ran up to ask Zack what happened.

“Zack? You lookin’ for something?”

“Uh- Noctis apparently brought his family ring with him.” Zack answered quickly, checking under the beach chair for the hundredth time, “and it’s probably also my fault that I didn’t tell him that we were gonna be _here_ , but I really didn’t think he was gonna take it with him.”

Xion looked over to Noctis who had a look of worry plastered on his face as his hands were on his hips. “I left it in the box with the rest of my clothes, but it’s not… _there_.”

“You think someone stole it?” Xion asked.

“That would be the most likely option, yes.” Ignis answered, “either _that_ or Noctis lost it.”

“If you told one of us that you had it with you, we woulda kept a better eye on this stuff, Noct.” Terra spoke, placing a hand on his hip as he let the other run through his hair. “There’s a good chance it could be _anywhere_.”

“What if you just took the box and forgot the ring at home?” Iris offered.

“No I… I definitely took the ring with me. I never even put it on, I just left it in the box, but it was in my pocket.” Noctis mumbled.

“Does your pockets have holes in them?” Ignis asked. He watched Noctis do a quick check and shake his head dejectedly.

“Jeez. What a way for a ring to go.” Zack muttered.

“Should we report it?” Xion looked to Zack. Zack slowly shook his head.

“When they close the place down for the night they’ll do their own little sweep to make sure it wasn’t dropped, _but_ , if it was in the box like Noct says, there’s no way that it was just gonna drop out without the box being opened. You need to put a good amount of pressure on that damn thing to open it up, _and_ that ring was always really stable in there.” Zack explained.

“Meaning there’s… a good chance someone _stole_ it.” Iris repeated. “Who in the world could be so mean?!”

Noctis groaned and shook his head, “let’s just forget about it, okay? I don’t need Gladio yelling at me for not keeping a better eye on it, and I don’t want to worry Luna. We’ll find it, I just… don’t know when.”

Zack ran a hand through his hair, “you sure, Noct?”

“If it’s not here, I have a feeling I know who took it.” Noctis sighed. “Shouldn’t we be getting ready to go? The reservation’s coming up, right?”

“I think your family ring is more important than a dinner." Zack pressed.

“It’s okay, Zack. We’ll find it.” Noctis insisted.

With that, the rest of the group joined them with happy faces and subtle complaints about being hungry. Once the group left the amusement park and went back to the parking lots, they hopped into their cars and drove off, heading to an unknown location to Noctis for their dinner reservation.

Luna had noticed the shift in Noctis’ attitude, even if he tried to defend that he was feeling perfectly fine, or tried to blame it on him being hungry. Gladio paid no mind, and Prompto had been curious for a bit, but changed his attention to taking pictures of their journey. Ignis could do nothing more aside from give occasional comments and focus on driving.

Once the group arrived to their location, they parked and retreated from the Regalia, heading towards the restaurant as ‘refined’ as possible. Zack informed them that the restaurant was somewhat fancy, so they’d have to be on their best behaviour. But the food itself also resembles some meals that you’d be able to find in Lucis. Apparently the owner used to live in Lucis for many years before travelling around the world. Zack had hoped that this would lift Noctis’ spirits some, and once the owner found out that this would be to feed the crowned prince of Lucis, he made sure to get his best workers there that day.

The group sat at an amazingly set circular table with various different types of Lucian meals ready and waiting. The owner was quite excited to see the happiness on Noctis’ face as they were free to eat the various types of meals. It didn’t take long for the group to fill up on their meals, even to the point where Noctis had almost turned down eating a dessert. But once Noctis _and_ Luna heard what the dessert was, they both looked at one another, soft smiles on their faces.

 _Memory Lane Pastry_.

“This is something that’s usually made best in Tenebrae,” Luna started, looking at the pastry in front of her. “Were you able to get the berries as well?”

“Of course!” The man looked confident in his work, “I wished to only make the best for the two of you!”

“Thank you,” the man heard Noctis whisper. “It looks amazing.”

“You guys should eat it together.” Xion grinned, her elbows on the table as she gave them a goofy grin with her face propped up in her hands. “It’ll be super cute and Prompto can take a picture of it.”

“I…” Noctis looked awkward as he glanced over to Prompto who only shrugged and pulled out his camera, a grin on his face. He then looked to Luna who smiled, the pastry in her hand already. “Are you serious?” He asked her.

“Of course! It’ll be fun, you’ll see.” Luna chuckled, “you take a bite of mine, and I’ll take a bite of yours.”

“How _romantic_.” Iris tried her hardest not to sound jealous as she leaned into Gladio who could only pat her head a few times.

Noctis slowly picked up his own pastry, turning back to Luna who had already had her pastry ready for him to eat. “You ready?” He asked, watching Luna nod. They both leaned in, feeding the other their pastry as they ate the one in front of them. In unison, their faces lit up with smiles fully visible.

“This tastes amazing.” Luna spoke, covering her mouth as she couldn’t stop herself from complimenting the pastry. “It’s just like back home.”

“Are there anymore?” Noctis asked. He watched the man nod happily, “I don’t want Luna and I to be the only ones to enjoy this.” He insisted, “do you mind?”

“Not at all! We wanted to make sure you two were the first to enjoy such a delicious treat. They should be wheeling out the others very soon.” The man smiled.

Just like that, everyone around the table were able to enjoy the taste of one of Noctis’ favorite pastries. Noctis even teased Ignis about him not being able to get the pastry right before, insisting that he’d need to learn from the man one day for how to properly make it for him. Ignis suggested it’d be better if Noctis only had the pastry in small doses, as it would be better for him to savor the taste every time he got the chance.

It took about another half hour or so of them eating for them to decide it was time to go home. Slowly but surely, the stuffed group got up from their seats and went to leave the building, thanking the owner and retreating to their respective vehicles. Somewhere along the walk, Luna had stopped Noctis in his tracks, a smile on her face.

“Noctis?” Luna called, her hands folded in front of her in a regal way.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?” Noctis asked, turning to her questionably. “You okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine.” Luna shook her head, “but are you? You seemed to have lost some of your energy today after the amusement park.”

“I’m probably just tired,” Noctis lied, “it’s okay. This is the most running I’ve done in a while.” He admitted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Luna took a step forward, grabbing Noctis’ hand. She could feel him twitch as he made the effort to not pull away. She leaned in to give Noctis a hug, kissing him on his cheek. “Do you like this? Being with me?”

“What?” Noctis asked, “of- of course I do.”

“Sometimes I wonder… if I weren’t here, would you be able to move on?”

“What do you mean?” Noctis asked, placing his free hand on Luna’s shoulder so that he could get a good look at her. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Being able to be with you like this is amazing as well, and for my birthday, I would love to be able to spend it with you again. But who’s to say-”

“Luna, are _you_ okay?” Noctis asked again, letting go of her hand to place both of his hands on her shoulders. He looked her in the eyes, “did something happen?”

“No, everything is okay.” Luna shook her head slowly, “I’ve just been wondering.”

“There’s no need for you to do that.”

“Have you noticed the ones that seem like they love you more than I do?” Luna asked, making eye contact with Noctis, “have you noticed how you tend to gravitate to those who have more energy and passion in the things that you do?”

“Luna…”

“I will _always_ love you, Noctis.” Luna spoke with a smile, “no matter what.”

“I love you too, Luna.” Noctis gave her a saddened look as he spoke, pulling her into a tight hug. He could feel Luna’s smile grow as she went to hug him back.

“Y’all gonna get in the damn car? Or are we gonna have to leave ya here?!” The couple heard Zack yell, honking his car horn. “I wanna go home!” He added.

Noctis and Luna turned to one another, giving each other a quick peck on the lips before returning to the Regalia holding hands.

* * *

“Well, now that we’re home~” Zack started, pushing a few wrapped presents in front of Noctis. Xion at some point had given him a random party hat that she found somewhere in their closet. Even though Noctis wasn’t fond of wearing it, he decided to keep it on because Luna called it ‘cute’ for him to wear. “It’s time to open your presents. And I _promise_ you, Kunsel gave you a good gift.”

“Uh,” Noctis cleared his throat, “okay then?” He gave Zack a goofy smile as he picked up one of the first boxes. It was from Zack and Terra. After opening the wrapping and the box, he found himself looking at a black chocobo chick plushie. With a curious look, he turned to Zack and Terra. “What the hell is this?”

“It’s a black chocobo chick.” Zack grinned, “remember when we talked and you told me that black chocobos are super rare to find where you lived? Lucky for _you_ , I found that bad boy not too long after.”

“You remembered that?” Noctis asked, his voice astonished.

“Of course!” Zack grinned.

Terra cracked a smile as he spoke for Zack, “and besides, earlier after that ride you went on, you _totally_ looked like a black chocobo, so...” Zack chuckled at Terra’s response, earning a laugh from Prompto as the two agreed that it was a wonderful gift. With a playful smile, Noctis shrugged and put it to his side, instantly to be judged by Umbra who had just wanted to spend his night sitting next to Noctis on the couch. Noctis sighed and shook his head, picking up the second box addressed from Ignis.

“I have a feeling I know what this is already.” Noctis grumbled, feeling the weight of the present. “If this is like, a book telling me to get my shit together Iggy, I’m throwing it at you.”

“You’ll be surprised then.” Ignis replied casually. Noctis gave him a look as he opened the present, looking at the book in front of him telling him how to cook all of the fancy meals from all around Eos. Noctis showed the book to Umbra, who barked in response.

“A cookbook? Look at this Umbra,” Umbra continued to bark, “he thinks I’m gonna cook.” Noctis grinned playfully, placing the book to his other side. Luna then handed him a small box that was from her as she smiled softly to the boy. “Oh- thanks.” Noctis whispered.

“It’s very simple, but, before you open it…” Luna reached to touch a few strands of her own hair, “it was something that your father and I had picked out for you for this day.”

“Really?” Noctis asked, suddenly feeling anxious. “Should I open it now?”

“That’s up to you, Noctis.” Luna spoke softly, “but I feel it would be more powerful for you to see on your own.”

“I’ll save it for later then, thank you Luna.” Noctis watched Luna nod, tilting her head for him to grab one of the other presents.

“This one’s from Prompto and I!” Xion grinned as she pushed a box close to Noctis and then pulled Prompto close to her. “I swearsies you’re gonna love it!”

“I never wanna hear you say ‘swearsies’ again, Xi.” Prompto teased, “but yeah! Open it!”

Without a second thought, Noctis opened the box revealing a _very_ soft blanket and pillow set. “Holy shit. This is like, feather soft.” Noctis spoke, astonished by how soft the fabric was. He rubbed it on his face then showed it to Umbra who gave him a supportive bark. “Where in the world did you get this?”

“Had to get it specially ordered from a guy _super_ far away.” Prompto explained, “but his prices are fuckin’ fantastic and his material is to _die_ for.”

“I love this already. I know what I’m sleepin’ with.” Noctis fluffed the blanket in preparation, “man this feels fantastic.”

“It’s time for Gladio and I’s gift!” Iris pushed the last box in front of Noctis, her grin plastered on her face, “I swear you’re gonna _love_ it!”

Noctis looked at the size of the box and slowly opened it, his face fairly skeptical. The moment he opened the box, his face went to one of shock. “Is this- it’s a fishing set?!” He practically yelled, pulling the box into view. “Holy- it’s a fishing set!”

“Gladio and I looked for the most exciting lookin’ fishing set, _and_ I think we found the best one for ya.”

“Yeah, this is amazing.” Noctis smiled, “thank you Gladio, Iris.” He gave them both warm smiles then went back to looking and inspecting the box’ contents. Iris instantly grabbed Gladio’s arm roughly, squealing as quietly as possible as she asked him about the smile Noctis gave her.

“Man that looks pretty freakin’ neat.” Zack chuckled, “when we have time, I’ll definitely take you out to use it, alright?”

“For sure!” Noctis agreed, showing Umbra the box, yet again earning a happy bark. Noctis then put the box on the floor and stood, “thank you guys so much.”

“There’s still the Chocobo crew who have yet to give you their gifts. Kunsels’ gift for you is in your room on your bed. And the rest of the kiddos are probably gonna stop by tomorrow or somethin’ for ya.” Zack grinned, placing his hands on his hips. “It’s also been a _super_ long day, so I’m gonna take Luna and Prompto back home. The rest of y’all can go to bed.”

“If you don’t mind, Noct… I’d like to sleep here with you tonight.”

Noctis and Prompto practically choked on air at Luna’s request. “You wanna what?” Noctis breathed out.

“I’d feel better sleeping with you, just for the one night. We never spend too much time together, so I feel spending the last few hours of your birthday together would be amazing.” Luna insisted.

Noctis turned to Zack who shrugged in response. “Just don’t make a lot of noise, if you catch my drift. Some people gotta work in the mornin’.”

Noctis’ face instantly went bright red, glancing back at Luna. She only shook her head and gave Zack a smile, “I promise that wasn’t my intention. I just wished to sleep.”

“At some point our 21 year old virgin is gonna have to get some action.” Gladio chuckled, patting Iris. “Let's get goin’ Iggy.”

“Wait- who said-” Noctis tried to refute but the group began to disperse.

Ignis, Gladio and Iris all left without a second thought, Terra and Xion said their goodbyes and retreated up the stairs and Zack led Prompto out of the house, taking him to go home. Luna stood with Umbra climbing off the couch so that he could give her some affection and begging for pats, with a grin, she ruffled his fur playfully.

“Shall we go upstairs now?”

“I guess I can leave most of this stuff here for now.” Noctis sighed, picking up the gift that Luna got for him. “C’mon, let's go upstairs.”

“Mhmm.” Luna nodded, following Noctis and Umbra up the stairs. Somewhere during her affectionate pets, she noticed Umbras fur was rather rough around his neck. Her curiosity peaked at one point, but assumed she was just imagining the worst.


	8. It's Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku? Check. Edge-lord adults? Check. Stress? Check.

Riku assumed that Cloud’s suddenly frequent visits to his house had something to do with Sephiroth or his brothers, but he wasn’t too sure. It happened the day after Cloud yelled at he, Sora and Roxas to get out of the basement, and since then it’s been going downhill. Today, the 31st of August, Riku found himself staring at Cloud for the third time this day. He’d say it was unusual, but this week has been quite alarming for a variety of different reasons.

Loz seemed to have gotten sick somewhere in their journey, and he hadn’t heard from Loz in a few days now. Ever since Cloud’s birthday had passed, Riku hadn’t heard a peep from the buff man. Yazoo has been more quiet than usual, not saying he was any good company before, but he’s definitely not good company now. The quiet is awkward, straining and frankly, rather stressful. Kadaj has been the same, more or less, but now he seemed to sound more brash and demanding when it came to Riku.

Sephiroth in fact, hadn’t even looked at him directly since Cloud started to frequent his visits. _Usually_ Riku wouldn’t be concerned, but he could tell that there was something going on. It took a few tries, but it definitely clicked.

Whatever was happening, Sephiroth was using Cloud to do it.

Well, maybe not _it_ , but Riku is fairly certain that he’s heard some unusual noises coming from the group when they disappeared upstairs to a faraway point in the house. Probably two floors up, in one of the many extra rooms Sephiroth insisted on having. Nonetheless, Riku stood by the front door, prepared to go out, when he made eye contact with a rather exhausted looking Cloud who had come back for the 3rd or 4th time today.

“You’re back.” Riku stated, pointing out the obvious. “You look worse than you did when you were here earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Cloud spoke, “let me in.”

Riku raised his eyebrow curiously, then took a step out of Cloud’s way so that the blonde could do what he needed to do. Riku watched as he took off his shoes and retreated up the stairs without even looking back. Something about this seemed rather shady, but Riku _knew_ Cloud would never tell _him_ out of all people. Shaking his head, Riku decided it was time for him to leave the house, closing and locking the door behind him as he retreated to go to his car parked in the front.

Of course Sephiroth had a garage to match his huge house, but Riku insisted that he’d rather not go through the shady garage door to have to get to his car. Though, Sephiroth made the, albeit rather truthful, argument that _he_ was the one that paid for the car in the first place, and if it were to get damaged from being parked in the front, it would be Rikus’ task to fix it with his own money. Obviously, Riku agreed to those terms.

 _Terms_.

As far as Riku is concerned, he’d been stuck in Sephiroth's’ cycle of “do this and you’ll be rewarded” torture. It started off with small things, ‘if you spend time with your brothers, I’ll give you an extra few hours to watch TV’ to ‘when you decide to drop out of school, you’ll be working for me and your other brothers.’ which involved a job that Riku was never really _familiar_ with.

At some point, Riku assumed that Sephiroth was involved with drugs, but seeing as he was a famous SOLDIER working for Shinra, Riku figured he might have just been going crazy. There _definitely_ was a moment where he recalled watching Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo walk into the house with a big chest with unusual items in there though. At first Riku just assumed it was for Sephiroth’s work, but now Rikus’ definitely been thinking about this a lot more ever since Clouds’ sudden appearances.

Riku shook his head. There’s no way _Sephiroth_ could be a drug dealer, and _Cloud_ is one of his buyers. Riku felt his spine shiver at the thought.

_That’d be crazy, right?_

Riku’s job also wasn’t _too_ unusual either, it was just to make sure that there was a certain amount of crates stacked, and to make sure Loz was doing his job. Riku decided it was fairly easy of a task, since all he’d have to do is just tell Loz that Sephiroth wanted him to focus and he’d work like it’s nobody's business. Riku let out a sigh, staring at his car. He felt the hood of the car as he made his way to the driver's’ seat. Turning on his car, he looked once more at the house, to make sure neither his siblings nor his cousin needed him before he left for his destination.

Sora’s house.

In about 2 days, their last year of high school would start, which meant that most of the people he hung out with would be busy once again. Once Riku decided to drop out of college, of course under Sephiroth’s suggestion, he realized he _really_ would have way too much time on his hands. As Riku continued to drive, he came to the realization that he needed to get a job, and fast.

If the car was soon to be fully under his name, he was going to have to be able to _afford_ it, that _and_ be able to maintain it when the time was right. Riku knew for certain he wasn’t going to be able to rely on Sephiroth’s money, not like he really wanted to in the first place, but it was something that needed to be done for the time being.

As Riku slowly pulled up to Soras’ home, he could already feel the smile on his face as he put the car in park and turned it off, taking off his seat-belt and leaving the car. Riku pulled out his phone and dialed Sora’s number, waiting as the phone rang.

“ _Hello? Riku?_ ”

“Hey Sora, can you open the front door?”

“ _The front- MY door? You’re here?_ ”

“Yep.” Riku could hear Sora’s feet shuffling over the phone.

“ _Give me like two seconds I’ll be right there!_ ” Sora spoke quickly, hanging up the phone. Riku gave a playful smile as he looked down to his phone, locking his car. He took his time walking up to the front door of Soras’ home, and by the time he got there, Sora had managed to open the door with a huge grin on his face. Riku let out a chuckle once he took in Sora’s messy appearance.

His hair was a lot messier than usual, his shirt was barely on, and he was wearing over-sized shorts that were just extremely baggy for no reason. Sora _claimed_ they were hammer pants, but a capri version, _but_ … they were just extremely baggy shorts with elastic bottoms.

“You look a _mess_.” Riku pointed to Sora’s hair. “What the hell happened?”

“To be _fair_ , I didn’t think that you’d be coming over today!” Sora defended himself, pulling Riku into the house. “Besides, today’s my lazy day. I gotta go back to school soon and it _sucks_.”

“That’s true.” Riku nodded, “but at least you made it, right?” he grinned, taking off his shoes. “You’re almost free from the depths of high school, soon to take you straight to college.”

“Who said I was gonna go to college?” Sora asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched Riku put his shoes neatly off to the side. Riku glanced up at him with a questioning look, “I’m not smart enough to be doing all of that extra schooling stuff.”

“You _could_ try.” Riku offered, “I don’t think you should just give up.”

“But if I do go, and I don’t like it, I’m gonna have no choice but to work to pay it off, and _that_ sounds like a drag.” Sora mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he began to pout.

Riku let out a chuckle, “it’s fine for some people, but sometimes it doesn’t work out. I don’t blame you.”

“Why’d you drop out, by the way?”

Riku made a noise, locking eyes with Sora as he thought of the right words to say. “It uh… it wasn’t for me.”

“You, Axel and Demyx all went to the same college, right? The one in Twilight Town?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it hard?”

“Not really, no.” Riku shrugged, “we just didn’t _fit_ , in a way.”

“Mm, I see.” Sora nodded. They stood in silence for a moment before Soras’ face lit up, “you wanna see Mickey?! I got him a few days ago and he _loves_ me!”

“Really? Leon let you get him?” Riku asked, barely being able to keep up with Sora as he suddenly ran back to his room, leaving his door open for Riku to enter. Slowly closing the door behind him, Riku looked at the container with the playful black mouse running around. “Wow, look at him go.” Riku mumbled.

“He’s _so_ cute.” Sora grinned, “and to answer the other question, _no_ , Leon did not verify havin’ Mickey here, but he’s _here_ and Leon _isn’t_.”

“So how’d you get him then?” Riku asked, reaching in the container to pick up Mickey, who didn’t seem to mind being held by the stranger.

“Vani actually… went out and got him for me. He even named him Mickey for me and he got me these Mickey Mouse ears- oh my god where are they-” Sora jumped from his spot on his bed and went over to his dresser somewhere off to the right to pick up the headband that he received along with the mouse and placed it on Riku’s head strategically. “That’s a perfect fit for you.”

Riku raised an eyebrow and looked over to Sora’s dresser where he had a mirror placed right above it. Riku sighed and shook his head, looking at the stiff ears on top his head. “Would ya look at that.” Riku whispered to himself as he glanced back to the mouse in his hands. “I’m a bigger you, Mickey.”

“I love this mouse so much, you literally have no idea how happy I’ve been since I had him.” Sora grinned, jumping back onto his bed, completely forgetting that he had placed Mickey’s home on the edge of the bed earlier, so Riku had to make quick work of his hands in order to stop the container from falling to the ground and breaking while holding a fragile mouse in his other hand. “O-oops.”

“I’m glad you’re happy and all, but you need to stop _jumping_ everywhere.” Riku pointed out, gaining the assistance from the brunette who carefully placed the container back on the bed, this time closer to his body so it wouldn’t be so dangerous.

“I’m just so _happy_.” Sora repeated, “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You said _Vanitas_ went to get Mickey for you?”

“Yep! When I came home, after you asked me out and all. I went to my room and I saw the container, and the ears and he wrote a note and it was just… really…”

“Nice?” Riku finished for the brunette who nodded in response.

“I didn’t expect it, I also didn’t think that Vani was listening, but he was. He heard me telling Leon that I wanted the mouse, and Vani even said that _he_ wanted a pet mouse too. But he got this mouse for _me_.”

“Have you thanked him at all?” Riku asked, attempting to place Mickey back in his container. It seemed however, that Mickey was protesting being put back, and chose to run up Rikus’ arm. Riku froze in place once he felt Mickey sitting on his shoulder, suddenly concerned that the mouse might poop on him.

“I… I’ve _tried_ to thank him in person.” Sora admitted, scratching the back of his head as he turned to lay on his back. He dropped his head on his pillow and gave a sheepish laugh. “Every time I managed to make eye contact with Vani, he left me in the room alone, or he left the house. He wouldn’t even say ‘hi’ or ‘bye’ to me, he just avoided all contact.”

“Did you try writing a note?” Riku questioned, feeling Mickey crawl to his other shoulder. He could feel Mickeys’ tail brushing between his hair, and that honestly startled him more than he would have liked to admit.

“I did! So, when I was sure Vani was outta the house, I wrote him a thank you note and put it on his bed. I haven’t heard from him since, but I’m pretty sure he saw it.”

“That’s probably good enough then.” Riku chuckled, feeling Mickeys’ tail hit his chin. “This damn mouse…”

“I’m honestly shocked and kinda offended.” Sora groaned, leaning up from his spot, “Mickey only let me hold him and hug him, but he literally _never_ fought me to go back into the container. I couldn’t even get him to go on my shoulders, I thought he just didn’t climb.”

“Maybe he likes me more than you.” Riku grinned, sticking out his tongue.

“No! No way! Mickey _loves_ me!” Sora argued, “I’m the one that’s been taking care of him, he better love me.”

“Well, it looks like I have some competition then.” Riku went to pick up Mickey, looking him in the eyes, “you wanna fight? If you love Sora, you gotta fight me.”

“Competition?” Sora asked, “for what?”

“I just said,” Riku looked over to Sora, he placed Mickey on the bed in between the both of them. “If he loves you, I gotta fight him. There can only be one.”

“Don’t fight Mickey.”

“I won’t hurt him.”

“I care more about Mickey.” Sora stated, reaching to grab Mickey from the bed.

“Frankly, I’m kinda hurt.” Riku mumbled, taking off the headband, “I love you too, y’know.”

“Oh! That’s why you’d have a competition, that makes sense now.” Sora grinned, laying on his back with a playful grin plastered on his face. He lifted Mickey above his head with his arms stretched out, “you’re so freakin’ cute.”

“What were you doing before I came over?” Riku asked, “anything important?”

“Nah, I was just playin’ with Mickey, really. I’ve been in and outta sleep all day, so…”

“What,” Riku let out a chuckle, “it’s not even 1pm yet. What _day_?”

“Well, maybe my day starts when the night starts.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

Sora groaned, cautiously putting Mickey back in his container. He watched as Mickey attempted to reach for Riku, and gave Riku a curious stare. “Do you have like, mouse food in your pockets or something?”

“No, I really don’t.” Riku mumbled, patting his pockets, “I don’t know, Mickey just _loves_ me.”

“ _Competition_.” Sora repeated under his breath. It was loud enough however for Riku to hear, which led to the silver haired man’s laughter.

“Well, this weekend we’re gonna be going to Disneyland, and we’re gonna complete that date that I promised you. So, before that, is there anywhere you wanna go?”

“Hmm…” Sora slowly scooted off his bed, grabbing Mickey’s container to place him on the desk that was _supposed_ to be for Soras’ school work, but it had been cleaned off enough for Mickey to stay there comfortably. “I’m not too sure, honestly.” Sora thought for a moment, “we _could_ go to Twilight Town. I heard from Roxas that they have some _really_ nice lookin’ things. And there’s a good chance I can pick up some extra trinkets for Mickey!”

“You wanna go to Twilight Town?” Riku raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think I’m quite ready to go back there yet.”

“Oh! That’s fine! We can go another time.” Sora grinned, walking over to Riku. “I can’t think of anything else to do right now though. It’s times like this that I miss being back at the island, all I needed to do was run outside and just play in the sand. It was great!”

“Right, Destiny Islands was pretty great.”

“I’m still shocked that you used to live there too.” Sora went to sit back on his bed, pulling Riku to sit with him. “Why’d you have to leave, by the way?”

“Sephiroth really only temporarily had a job there, and he wasn’t bound down by Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo yet, so it was just me and Seph for a bit.” Riku explained, “I wish I got to live there longer than what I did, but it was still pretty great to be able to meet you and Kairi by chance.”

“Definitely!” Sora chuckled, “the moment we met, we knew we were gonna be best friends forever!”

“Yeah, it was pretty great.” Riku smiled softly, “I miss being so carefree. Not having to worry about school or anything.”

“What are you gonna do now though?” Sora asked, “for jobs, I mean.”

Riku shrugged, “no idea. I’ve been thinking about a few things, but… I’m not a writer like Terra or Axel, I don’t _work_ like Axel does. I’m not SOLDIER material like Sephiroth, Cloud, Zack, Angeal and all of their buddies. I don’t know… really.” Riku let out a sigh, “maybe I should just go back to college and re-do the year. It’d give me time to really think about what I wanna do.”

“But you’re good at a lot of things! You’re good at music, you’re super great with helping people and I _swear_ you’re amazing at writing too!” Sora yelled, grabbing onto Riku’s head. He looked Riku in the eyes, “if you really tried, you could be something amazing.”

“Thanks for the heartfelt speech Sora, but,” Riku pushed Sora softly to get his grip off of his head, “that means _I_ have to believe in my capabilities too, you know.”

“Why don’t you believe in your abilities?”

“I just don’t think I’m good at much. Like sure, I know how to help you and Kairi or whoever, but that’s about as good as I am in that regard. When it comes to writing, I’d rather someone more professional than Terra or Axel to really look at it and tell me what I’m doing right or wrong. And music is just _music_. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I liked cooperating with Dem and Axel when it came to that, but I don’t want the rest of my life to rely on music.”

Sora nodded slowly, letting silence fill the room for a moment. “I have two questions for you.”

“Two?” Riku’s eyebrows rose curiously.

“I’m gonna be nice and give you a choice, you only gotta answer one.” Sora added, “ready?”

“Uh, sure?”

“The first question is: that day when I came by your house and you weren’t there, where did you go? And the second question is: what happened between you and Axel?” Sora refused to look anywhere else but directly at Riku as the silver haired boy slowly closed his eyes.

“Why would you want to know either of those?”

“I’ve been having a few conversations with Roxas lately.” Sora shrugged, watching Riku open his eyes again, even though his eyes were a sharp squint. “And whichever question you don’t answer now, you _gotta_ answer later.”

“I’m seriously going to need to have a talk with Roxas about what he _should_ and _shouldn’t_ say.” Riku mumbled, “alright, I guess you’re not going to let it go until I answer a question, right?”

“Yep!”

Riku let out a heavy sigh, “well… Axel and I were pretty close during our first year, but, like most people, you just kinda learn things about them after sometime. We’re fine as friends, since we don’t need to put each others personal lives first, but… things just _didn’t_ work out.”

“How so?”

“Mmm..." Riku lowered his gaze, adjusting his spot on Sora’s bed so that his body was fully facing Sora’s. He crossed his legs and used his fingers to play with the hems of his pants. “He didn’t want to be involved with my family, and I understood. I didn’t want to be serious with him when I knew he already had so much going on. I didn’t want to stress Axel out more than he already was.”

“I feel like you’re not telling me the full story.” Sora mumbled. He turned his own body to match Riku’s but he still chose to stare at the silver haired man’s eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Sora…” Riku started, “some things are better left unsaid.”

“Is that why you decided to tell me about Axel and not where you were that day?”

“Why do you want to know about that, Sora?”

“You looked… _different_. Like, I don’t know how to explain it aside from that. You weren’t dressed like how you normally would be, and… I didn’t like it.”

“You didn’t like how I dressed, for _one_ day. And now you want to know where I was?”

“Why is it so hard for you to tell me?”

“I never said it was _hard_ , I just don’t see why I need to tell you.”

“So you’re just going to keep it from me?”

“You said I’d have to answer the question some other time, right? The one that I didn’t answer just now?”

“Yeah?”

“I answered the one about Axel, so I’ll answer the other one some other time.”

Sora sighed and groaned, leaning back in his spot, using his arms for support as he looked up to the ceiling. Riku decided it was best to keep quiet and let Sora work through his thoughts before the brunette had decided to turn his attention back. “One more question then.” Sora insisted, eyeing Riku’s face.

“Okay.”

“Do you…” Sora paused for a moment. Riku assumed he was trying to figure out the best way to word the question, “are you interested in anyone else?”

“What?” Riku responded quickly. Probably a bit too quickly for Soras’ tastes, judging from the look Sora gave him. “N-no.” Riku shook his head slowly, “I only really like you, Sora.”

“Mmm.” Sora nodded, glancing off to the desk where Mickey was seen running around. “Okay.”

“It doesn’t seem like you believe me.”

“I do.” Sora stated, “I believe you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Sora looked back to Riku, “because, more than anything… you’re my friend.”

“Your _boy_ friend.” Riku corrected.

Sora let out a chuckle, “right, yeah. I still gotta get used to that.”

Riku nodded giving Sora a small smile. They sat like that in silence for a moment before Riku decided to speak up, “hey, Sora?” Sora let out a noise to let him know he was listening. “I’ll tell you everything. Eventually. I just can’t do that to you yet, okay?”

“I know,” Sora grinned, “you wouldn’t leave me in the dark for too long.”

“When the time’s right, okay?” Riku reached his hands out. Sora nodded with his grin growing as he grabbed Riku’s hands and gripped them tightly.

“Yeah, when the time’s right.”

* * *

After enjoying the rest of his visit to Sora’s house, Riku had decided that it was time for him to go. Part of him wanted to leave to make sure Sora actually started to get ready to go back to school, and the other part of him wanted to be able to do things slowly when it came to he and Sora. Sure, he didn’t think he was moving too fast, they actually weren’t moving fast at all. Riku just felt the urge to want _space_ , as strange as it sounded.

So, Riku made his way back to his house, where he saw Cloud leaving yet again. With curiosity finally fully hitting him, Riku got out of his car and walked up to Cloud, who had been distracted for the slightest of moments.

“Cloud.” Riku called, reaching for Fenrir, who was right in front of Cloud.

Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them as he turned his head to Riku. “What?”

“You wanna give me some answers, or are you gonna make me ask them first?”

“What do you want, Riku?” Cloud repeated, his voice firm.

“I want you to talk to me.” Riku stated, matching Cloud’s voice. “We’re cousins, right? Shouldn’t you be treating me like we’re family?”

“I don’t _need_ to.” Cloud replied, “so no.”

Riku let out a sigh, “all week you’ve been coming over here to talk to my brothers, and you’ve barely even bothered to say anything to me. What the hell is going on up there?” Riku could feel his grip on the motorcycle seat tightening.

Cloud closed his eyes once more, “it’s nothing that you need to worry about.”

“You know, I’ve never realized before just how quick your attitude changes depending on who you talk to.” Riku pointed out, “I don’t see why you’d hate me. We’ve barely talked enough for you to even have an opinion of me.”

“You’re right about one thing,” Cloud replied, “we’ve barely talked enough. I _don’t_ have an opinion of you.”

“So why do you treat me like this?”

Cloud opened his eyes to look back at the house, a sigh escaping his lips. “Were you planning on doing anything important?” Cloud asked as he turned his attention back to Riku. He watched Riku shake his head, “alright.” Cloud reached to start Fenrir, glancing at Riku’s hand to hint at him to move it from the seat. Once Riku removed his hand, Cloud climbed onto Fenrir, then fully grabbed at the handles. “Get on.”

Cloud’s voice was barely audible over the sounds of Fenrir’s engine roaring, but Riku was able to catch onto what the man said after a few seconds of realizing he hadn’t driven off. Riku hopped onto the back of Fenrir, and not even a second later, Cloud had pulled off, barely giving Riku enough time to hold onto him to make sure he didn’t fall.

Cloud continued to ride with what Riku felt like was with a lack of a destination. Though Cloud didn’t seem to be confused _per se_ , Cloud had continued to ride without mentioning anything to him. They passed by a large castle which Riku recalled in one of his classes in college saying that that castle was named “ _Hollow Bastion_ ”. Curiosity hit him as he felt Cloud speed up after a moment, taking them even farther out of the city.

Riku looked around curiously after the change of scenery had come around, it seemed unusual, and it was for certain somewhere Riku had most likely never heard of. He eyed a few of the people who were wandering around, most of which were in rags. Even some of the parents looked exhausted and dirty. Riku instantly made a mental note to ask Cloud about this place once they finished.

Riku had no idea where Cloud had planned to take him, he felt like hours had passed by by the time Cloud had stopped. Riku mimicked Cloud’s movements as the blonde got off of his motorcycle. Confusion was clearly visible on Riku’s face as he looked around, unfamiliar with the place. What was in front of him looked like a large church, but Riku didn’t recognize it.

“Where are we?” Riku finally asked after a moment.

“Midgar.” Cloud answered simply. Without another word, Cloud began to walk towards the church.

_Midgar?_

Riku decided it was best to follow Cloud as he tried to think of that name, swearing to himself that he had heard it before. Maybe Kadaj said it at some point? Or Loz? Or Yazoo even? Maybe even Sephiroth could have said it around him when he hadn’t been paying attention? Midgar. It was something important about this place that begged for Riku to remember, but the boy couldn’t quite figure it out. Nothing seemed to be clicking. Midgar… Midgar… _Midgar_.

Riku shook his head, figuring it would be best to wonder about it later. He followed Cloud into the church, where they stood in front of a flowerbed planted in the dirt under the floorboard. Curiously, Riku kneeled down to get a closer look at the flowers. “Someone’s been taking care of these.” Riku stated after a moment, glancing over to Cloud.

“Not me.” Cloud shrugged. “I’m not the only person that knows about this place.”

“How’d you find this place?”

“Zack took me here one day.”

“How’d _Zack_ find out about this place?”

“He said he fell through the roof,” Cloud pointed to the hole in the roof of the church, “and he landed in the flowerbed,” Cloud pointed down to the flowers, “and… he met Aerith.”

“Aerith?” Riku questioned, “Zack met her _here_?”

“A few years ago, well… a while ago now. He was the reason Aerith moved to Radiant Garden.”

“But she doesn’t live in Radiant Garden anymore, does she?”

“No, she lives in Traverse Town. That’s where her shop is.”

Riku nodded, looking around the area. “So, why’d you take me here?”

“I wanted to be somewhere that I knew Sephiroth wouldn’t bother to follow me to.” Cloud replied, walking over to one of the pillars, where he slid down and sat, suddenly looking exhausted. Riku chose to move a little closer to Cloud, leaning down to sit in front of him.

“Sephiroth follows you?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Well,” Riku looked around, lifting his arms in a shrug motion, “I’ve got time, so start talkin’.”

Cloud let out a sigh, looking Riku in the eyes. “I’ve been getting medicine from Sephiroth for years now.” He answered simply.

“Medicine? Sephiroth makes medicine?”

“More like he pawns it off of Shinra so that he can give it to me.” Cloud shrugged, “but, _I_ can’t get the medication on my own, so, Sephiroth gets it for me.”

“What type of medication is it?”

“I’ll get there.” Cloud replied quickly, “in order to get the medicine though, I have to help Sephiroth out. When I was younger, I used to help him out in a different way, but now, things are really simple. Sephiroth hasn’t been the best person to deal with when it comes to this, but I don’t have much of a choice. Since Sephiroth started to realize that I needed the medication more, since things are getting worse, he gives me better doses _but_ they’re in smaller amounts. Which is why I’ve been over at your house more often than usual.”

“Is it curable?”

“No.”

“Sephiroth’s been… holding the medication against you?”

“For him to use me, he holds the medication over my head, yes.”

“Is- is it that medicine that’s usually in a really big chest?”

At that question, Riku saw Cloud’s eyebrows raise and his eyes widen, “you’ve seen it?”

“Well, kind of?” Riku rubbed the back of his neck, “when Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo brought some really weird but huge chest in, I remember seeing them take it upstairs. But I wasn’t paying too much attention because I was reading in the living room.”

“I see.” Cloud’s face returned to normal, “they never talked to you about it, have they?”

“No.” Riku shook his head, “so… what type of medicine is it? What’s it for?”

“Geostigma.” Cloud answered simply, “the medicine is a type of Mako. Not the ones for enhancements, but kind of like a healing.”

“I’ve seen Sephiroth take that Mako stuff a few times before he goes out to work.” Riku recalled.

“Yeah, SOLDIER makes us use it.”

“I remember Sephiroth telling me that using too much Mako could make someone sick though.”

“Yeah.”

Riku raised an eyebrow, “is that what happened to you?”

“I-,” Cloud cleared his throat, “I didn’t use it willingly, at the time. But now, I have no choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Has Sephiroth done anything to you?” Cloud watched as Riku shook his head, “that’s good. If he ever tries to, you’re more than welcome to come to my place.”

“Before today, you barely even wanted to look at me. Why would I take you up on that offer?”

“You’re right.” Cloud nodded slowly, letting his body sink down against the pillar, “that’s okay. I know I haven’t been the best.”

“Is your attitude a side effect of the Mako?”

“If that helps you sleep at night.”

“I refuse to believe your attitude switches from perfectly fine to pissed off to stable to alcoholic to edge-lord within 20 seconds.”

“If that helps _you_ sleep at night.” Cloud repeated, this time sounding more firm than before. Cloud slowly began to close his eyes. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Uh… sure?” Riku gave the blonde a confused look.

“Can you…” Cloud took a breath, “call Zack and tell him... to bring someone else who can drive?”  

“Why?” Riku asked, reaching in his pocket for his phone.

“Make sure... he brings his car.”

The last part of Cloud’s words, Riku could barely hear. Somewhat panicked, Riku pulled out his phone and began dialing Zack’s number, feeling the anxiety in his fingers as he pressed each button.

“ _Heya, Zack speaking._ ” Riku practically felt his panic leave his body as he heard Zack’s easygoing voice.

“Zack,” Riku started, realizing that this wasn’t a peaceful matter, “I need you.”

“ _What? What’s up Riku?_ ”

“Uh- um. We’re…” Riku tried his best to get his thoughts in order. He took a deep breath and decided to try again, “Cloud and I… we’re in Midgar. At this… church? And uh…”

“ _Spike took you to Sector 5?_ ”

“Yeah, but that’s not- that’s not what’s wrong.” Riku could feel himself stuttering, “I think Cloud just passed out and he told me to call you-”

“ _He passed out?!_ ” Suddenly he could hear a loud shuffle from Zacks’ side of the line, “ _when?!_ ”

“Just now. But- he told me to tell you to bring someone else that can drive and to bring your car.” Riku repeated the message given to him from Cloud.

“ _Why the hell were you guys all the way out there?_ ”

“Cloud took me here so that we could talk.” Riku answered, “but,” He scooted a little closer to Cloud to make sure the blonde was still breathing, “I don’t know what happened. We were talking perfectly fine, then all of a sudden he tells me to call you and he passes out.”

“ _Okay, I’ll be there soon._ ”

“Maybe get someone else that knows how to ride a motorcycle? That bike isn’t really my style yet.”

“ _Haha._ ” Even though it was clearly a laugh from Zack, Riku could tell that it wasn’t one of his usual laughs, “ _yeah, I know just the person. I’ll be there soon, okay?_ ”

“Yeah.” Riku nodded even though he knew Zack couldn’t see it. The line went dead and Riku put his phone back in his pocket, fully moving to Clouds’ side. He put his hand to Cloud’s forehead, checking his temperature, then went to check his breathing. Once Riku was satisfied, he sat back and sighed, lifting his head to look at the roof. His body was in full panic mode, but he knew there was nothing more that he could do until Zack and his mystery companion made it to their location.

* * *

An hour or so later, Zack and Angeal came running through the front door of the church, catching Riku’s attention. Riku jumped up from his spot, dusting off his butt and pants from all the dirt that had built up. “Zack, Angeal!” Riku greeted.

“He looks _sick_ , Zack.” Angeal pointed out, reaching for Riku to come to him. Zack nodded as he kneeled over to pick up Cloud.

“I don’t know when this started, but I’m not a big fan of this.” Zack mumbled, turning to Riku, “c’mon, let's get you in the car and bring you back home, alright?”

“Uh…” Riku nodded slowly, not really knowing what else to say. He was sure he didn’t want to go back _home_ but he realized if he _didn’t_ Sephiroth would call him up angrily for him not returning home. Zack now carrying Cloud was the first to leave the church, followed by Riku, then Angeal, who turned his focus to Fenrir.

“I’m guessing Cloud has the keys for this thing?” Angeal asked, eyeing the motorcycle.

“Yeah, give me a sec to put him in the car, I’ll get the keys.” Zack answered almost automatically. Riku was honestly shocked that there were even times that Zack could be as serious and careful as he was right now. He watched Zack place Cloud along the back seat, and through the front window, he could see Zack going through Cloud’s pockets, pulling out the motorcycle key and tossing it over his car in Angeal’s direction once the older man was paying attention.

“Alright, I’ll leave first.” Angeal stated, hopping onto Fenrir, “I’ll see you guys back at your place, Zack.”

“Yeah.” Zack nodded. Once Angeal pulled off, Zack let out a sigh and groaned, looking to Riku, “you doing okay?”

“I’m the one that’s fine. It’s Cloud that’s-”

“I know, but I can’t help but check on you too, y’know.”

Riku nodded slowly, making his way to the passenger side. Once both he and Zack were in the car, Zack turned on the car and began making their journey back to Radiant Garden. “Uh… Zack?” Riku started, glancing over to the raven who made a hum sound. “You know anything about Geostigma?”

“Geo-,” Zack quickly glanced over to Riku and raised his eyebrow, “I know a bit about it, why?”

“I heard about it today, and I realized that I literally know nothing about it, so I’ve been asking around,” Riku did his best to make his lie sound believable, and hoped for the best that Zack believed him.

“It’s a disease that pretty much started in Midgar, so there’s a lot of people around here that have it.” Zack started, “they _say_ it had something to do with Jenova’s cells mixing in with the Life stream after the Meteor.”

“Life stream?”

“It’s like… some people believe that when you die your body and spirit go into the Life stream, but not everyone believes that same thing. Back in Gongaga, we have our cemeteries for the dead.”

“Ah…” Riku nodded slowly, “what’s Jenova?”

“Which I could say, but that’s pretty classified information.” Zack shrugged, “but yeah… it’s basically a disease that you can get in Midgar, from what I know though, it doesn’t have a cure.”

Riku had a feeling Zack was going to say that. “Do you know if it’s hard to treat?”

“There’s medicine for it, but the worse off you are is the harder it is to get medicine to keep it stable.”

“What if- what if you had this Geostigma thing, and you were able to get medication, _but_ , you were only able to get it in frequent but super _small_ doses. Would that help you at all?”

“Probably not. That doesn’t sound like you’re really getting much medicine at that point. If it’s worse off and you’re pretty much struggling to live.” Zack sighed, “I’d hate for someone I know to have to deal with that.”

“Y-yeah. I’d hate for that too.” Riku nodded, “this Geostigma thing sounds pretty shitty.”

“From what I’ve seen, it’s the _worst_.” Zack groaned, “but it’s not the only disease that’s like this. Believe it or not, Ignis and I found out that there was another disease going on in Eos that affects people in the night. Can’t remember the name, but it’s gettin’ worse over there.”

“What would you do if Cloud had the disease?”

“Huh?” Zack replied quickly, “if Spike had Geostigma? I have no idea what I’d do, honestly. I know Shinra is capable of making Mako that can slow it down a lot, but I have no idea if I’d be able to get a constant flow of it for Spike.”

“Shouldn’t you try?” Riku asked, forgetting this was supposed to be hypothetical.

“I _could_ try.” Zack replied, glancing at Riku, “but that’s not something that Shinra can really supply to a SOLDIER. Especially not one that _doesn’t_ have the disease so that they could give it to someone who _does_. Sadly, that’s not how Shinra operates.”

“So shouldn’t Cloud be able to try and get the medicine for himself?”

“He could.” Zack answered simply, “but there’s a good chance that they wouldn’t give it to him.”

“Shinra is starting to sound like a _really_ shitty place to work for.” Riku frowned, deciding to look out the window.

“Wish I could tell ya that it’s better than it sounds, but it has its moments.”

Riku decided to take the silence as the end of their conversation. With a sigh, he placed his head against the window, watching as they passed by buildings and people of the like. Riku slowly recalled his earlier conversation with Cloud. He had said that he originally took Riku out here because he didn’t want _Sephiroth_ to follow him. He recalled Cloud even saying that he couldn’t get the medicine on his own, that was the main reason why he relied on Sephiroth. Something about that seemed rather strange to Riku, but he still couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

He also recalled mentioning something else to Cloud before Cloud had changed the conversation to him. Riku recalled the other conversation involving Mako, and suddenly, he lifted his head to look at Zack, who was still quite focused on the road. “Zack?”

“Yep?”

“How does someone get sick from using too much Mako?”

“Er…” Zack started, “well, it’s called Mako Poisoning. It usually applies if someone’s been exposed to too much Mako, really.”

“How does that happen?”

“Some people get used to using Mako, so they start to over-use it. Some people force others to use Mako, usually it’s not the type that Shinra offers, so it takes them a bit longer, but they get addicted to it. Some people just decide to use Mako as a drug, so it usually doesn’t end well for them either.”

“What happens when you get Mako Poisoning?”

“A few things, and none of them are really good. There’s a science-y explanation to it that I’m not gonna be able to give you, but I know that you can definitely die from taking too much Mako into your system.”

“I see…” Riku nodded, once again putting his head back on the glass. “How can you tell if someone has Mako Poisoning?” Riku decided to ask after a moment.

“They get pretty unresponsive. I’ve never seen too many people with it, so I’m not too sure myself. I just know the after effect, basically.”

“Hmm.” Riku went back to looking outside, his brain now filled with concern for Cloud. If there’s a chance that Cloud _really_ needed the medication from Sephiroth, and he hadn’t told Zack about it yet, it must be _very_ serious. Then again, it never really felt like Cloud told many people _anything_. Originally he had wondered why Cloud decided to tell _him_ , but Riku had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that he was living in the same house as Sephiroth.

The same house as the person who had to have done _something_ to Cloud to make him suffer like he is now. If Zack didn’t know, there was a good chance Cloud definitely didn’t want Riku to tell Zack about it. That didn’t mean that Riku couldn’t take this as a chance to learn more about what’s going on with Cloud. Shit, he knew there really wasn’t _anyone_ that he could go to about Cloud’s situation, unless it was one of his brothers. But Gaia forbid, if any of his brothers found out that he knew what was going on, they might try to do something to him too.

Riku groaned quietly to himself, unsure of what to do. He was trying his best not to sound too concerned with the situation so that Zack wouldn’t be worried about him, but Riku _really_ wanted to tell Zack about his boyfriends’ condition. It just wasn’t right that Cloud was keeping something that important from Zack. Just what was forcing Cloud to think that he couldn’t rely on anyone else aside from _Sephiroth_ or _Riku_ with this information. Their whole family is pretty messed up.

“Say, Zack?” Riku decided to ask Zack another question. Apparently Riku zoned out pretty hardcore with his thoughts, because he could recognize that same castle labeled as Hollow Bastion lingering in its ghastly glory.

“Yep?” Zack replied the same way as before.

“Do you know about Cloud and Sephiroth?”

“Oh, there it goes.” Zack replied, “I was waiting for you to ask me about that.”

Riku froze for a moment, Zack _wanted_ him to ask about Cloud and Sephiroth’s dynamic? It was something that was just so strange and uncertain between cousins that Riku never thought to wonder about before today. After hearing Cloud’s side of a small part of the story, Riku had begun to wonder about Sephiroth’s side. He had also hoped that Zack would be able to give him some insight from outside of their dynamic. “Really?”

“Unfortunately, I could tell you as much as I know, but that’s not my story to tell.” Zack mumbled, “even if it seems unfair, it’s not somethin’ I can really do.”

“Is there anything you _can_ tell me? Like, stuff that you’ve seen outside of what Cloud or Sephiroth ever told you?”

“Well, I know that their relationship is really fucked up. Fucked up to the point where Spike thinks that goin’ back to Sephiroth every week to try and get answers outta him is gonna help. Spike, he…” Riku heard Zack sigh, “willingly puts himself in such a difficult situation because he feels like he’s getting justice for something that wasn’t his fault.”

_Something that wasn’t his fault?_

Riku’s brain was working a mile a minute, trying to figure out if he should ask Zack more about the situation, or ask him if he knew about Cloud’s sickness and just chose not to say anything. “What… uh- what do you mean?”

“Again, not somethin’ I can say.” Zack shrugged, “but, I can definitely tell you, because I’ve told his brothers already… Cloud doesn’t hate you. He really doesn’t hate a lot of people, he just has an air about him that keeps him from wanting to really express those things, if that makes any sense.”

“Yeah, I think… in a way, I’m the same.” Riku nodded.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been doing better at willingly showing my friends that I really care about them, but I know they sometimes feel like I don’t care about them at all. Like- even now that I’m dating Sora-”

“Congrats by the way.” Zack interrupted.

“-thanks.” Riku gave Zack a sheepish grin, “even now though, I know Sora has his moments where he wonders if he can trust me. I can tell he wants me to tell him _more_ , but I just _can’t_. Not yet.”

“I’m pretty sure he trusts you.” Zack replied, “but it takes time to get used to knowing that you’re gonna have to put your full trust in another person. Especially when they don’t seem too reliable at times.”

“Do you have problems trusting Cloud?”

Zack let out a laugh, one that was a lot louder than he was intending. “Do I- _HA_.”

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

“I wish I could say that I trust Cloud as much as I really _really_ want to, but there’s times where I know I can’t. He does things, he does things that are unusual and untrustworthy, and he does them instinctually. He doesn’t think about how others are going to feel when it comes to his actions, and he _willingly_ causes trouble.” Zack explained, “I love Cloud, I really do. I love him to death, but that doesn’t mean that I trust him as much as I could.”

“That’s not… ideal, is it?”

“I’d rather you be in a relationship where you know you can trust the other person just as much as the other person trusts you. In this case, if you trust Sora just as much as Sora trusts you, and you hope to _Gaia_ that he trusts you so much with that little heart of his, you trust him just as much.”

“Yeah... “ Riku nodded, “I know I want Sora to know that he can trust me fully. I just… I don’t know. I don’t know why I keep thinking that I want to take things slow with him. Like- we’ve already been taking things _super_ slow. But it doesn’t feel like I’ve been doing too good of a job with that.”

“Jeez, what the hell as Sephiroth been doing to you guys?” Zack asked, “it’s strange to think that even Cloud thought similar things when he and I started dating back in high school.”

“Really?”

“Believe it or not, Cloud was much more quiet than he is now, but he was filled with super snarky remarks. It was pretty cute.”

“Cloud? More _quiet_ than he is _now_?” Riku repeated, “this guy barely even talks as is!” Riku spoke as he pointed his thumb back to where Cloud laid asleep.

“Yeah, shocking isn’t it?” Zack didn’t even have to look to tell that Riku was nodding.

“How’d you guys start dating?” Riku asked after a moment, not really wanting to let the conversation pass over just yet.

“Oh, uh…” Zack cleared his throat, “well, we got to know each other a bit over the first year. We really got to know each other after I found out he was from Nibelheim. Found out we were both from backwater towns, but he preferred the cold, and I preferred heat.”

“Isn’t it like… always cold there?”

“When I visited? Jeez it was stupidly cold. I told Cloud about it and he said it was normal. They’re closer to the northern continent, so it should be logical, right? _No_ . Costa de Sol is up there, even though it’s a bit more east, it’s still _super_ close to the northern continent. But that place is hot!”

“I officially have no idea what you’re talking about.” Riku let out a chuckle, “wanna back it up a bit?”

“Oh! Yeah, where was I…” Zack took a moment to think of where he got distracted, “we bonded over our backwater towns and it didn’t take too long for me to want to get to know him more. So we spent more time together, just kinda… talking. One thing led to the next and… I asked him out, he said yes, then we’ve just been together.”

“I think I want more details than just ‘ _one thing led to the next_ ’ Zack.”

“We kissed, we fucked and we went on dates, then I officially asked him out and he said yes. So we’ve just been together.” Zack repeated, but this time with a bit more detail.

Riku choked on his spit as he turned to Zack, who laughed in response. “I- I didn’t think you were gonna say _that_.”

“You said you wanted more details. I’m not that much older than you anyways, you’ll be fine. It’s not like you’re hearing it from your dad.”

“I mean, I’m pretty sure _everyone_ thinks of you as their dad at this point.” Riku replied, “everyone goes to you when they need help.”

“I don’t know why. Half the time I barely know any more than what y’all are strugglin’ with. I think most of y’all forgot that I stopped going to school so that I could be a SOLDIER. Most of the time y’all have more knowledge on the topics that y’all come asking me about.”

“Four times.” Riku let out a chuckle, “you said ‘y’all’ _four_ times.”

“You keepin’ count now?” Zack grinned playfully.

“I feel like you let out an accent at specific times, and I’m trying to figure out when.”

“Would ya look at that.” Zack chuckled, parking the car. Riku froze and looked out the window, not even realizing that they made it to Zacks’ home. Or the fact that it had already been an hour or more since they left the church. Riku waited until Zack fully turned off the car to take off his seatbelt and exit the car, looking off to Zacks’ house. There were many times that Riku just wanted to be able to ask Zack if he could spend the night or stay for a weekend. But he knew Sephiroth would never support it, and that he wasn’t _too_ close with most of the people in the household. Aside from maybe Xion.

Riku waited for Zack to get Cloud from out of the back, still amazed that the man was still asleep, but seemed to look better than he did before. Although it was much darker now than when Riku had seen him earlier, so it could be the lights playing tricks on him. Riku followed Zack to the front door, where Zack went through the effort of pulling out his house keys to unlock the door. “I’ll take care of Spike, then I’ll bring you home, okay?”

“Yeah.” Riku nodded slowly. He watched Zack unlock the door, taking off his shoes immediately after walking in, and Riku chose to do the same. Zack gave a greeting to Angeal who had been sitting on the couch watching the TV with Terra. Riku wondered if he told Zack that he didn’t feel safe in the same house as Sephiroth, that Zack would insist to not take him back to that hell hole.

But Riku felt like he was on a contract, with a list of terms and conditions. If he tried to avoid Sephiroth for too long, his older brother would be sure to come and hunt him down. Though, it had never happened before, Riku wasn’t the type to want to test the waters with his safety. At one point he had wondered if hinting to one of his friends that he’d want to leave the home would help, but again, something continued to stop Riku right before he could even say.

Riku slowly walked over to Angeal and Terra, nodding his greetings as he decided to watch the TV with them. It was a show that Riku remembered Axel liked to watch back in the day called _How it’s Made_. Riku personally didn’t have much of a care for it, but he did find it pretty interesting when they made things he was familiar with.

“How are you feeling, Riku?” Riku turned to look at Angeal, whose eyes were trained on him.

“I’m alright. I’m more worried about Cloud though.”

“That’s understandable.” Angeal gave a curt nod, “I’m sure he’ll be okay. He was probably just exhausted.”

“Yeah… probably.” Riku nodded, “say, uh… Angeal? Have you- are you dating anyone?”

“Dating?” Angeal repeated, “no. Why?”

“I wanted to know your opinion or something but I don’t know if it’d be more accurate if you were or weren’t dating. Have you dated before?”

“A few times.” Angeal shrugged. “If you want someone that’s _currently_ dating, there’s Terra.” Angeal pointed a thumb back to the brunette trained on the TV.

“Well, imagine you were dating someone that you knew you really liked, but… you knew that the more the you two did together, the more you couldn’t trust the other person.”

“So, me dating a person that I _want_ to trust, but _can’t_?” Angeal rearranged the statement.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Okay, so what’s the question?”

“What would you do if you felt that the person you loved was doing untrustworthy things?”

“Well,” Angeal started, “I’d _ask_ them, for one. If I was uncertain with what they were doing, I’d make sure that they and I were on the same page.” He answered. “There was once someone that I dated that I knew I couldn’t trust him, but I still did.”

“But you broke up?”

“I didn’t agree with his beliefs. It was also fairly hard to put our relationship into words.”

“What do you mean?”

“We… _dated_ but he wasn’t my _boyfriend_.” Angeal attempted to clarify.

“ _What_.” Riku couldn’t even manage to make his comment a question. It was rather clearly a statement at that point.

“He means, he got into a type of relationship with someone who agreed to do things with him, but they weren’t exclusively dating. There wasn’t a particular label to it, but in a way, it was a relationship between friends.” Riku froze once he heard Terra’s voice as he explained Angeal’s situation.

“Does that make sense to you?” Angeal asked after a moment.

“I think so.” Riku nodded slowly, “I didn’t think people did that.”

“Sometimes it’s easier to have a fling of sorts with someone you know, than to go all out on a relationship that you know won’t work.” Angeal explained.

“Now _that_ makes sense.”

“What brought this on, by the way?”

“It was just a conversation that Zack and I had when we were in the car. So I was kind of curious about another point of view.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Hey! Riku!” Riku instantly looked up, hearing his name. He watched Zack run down the stairs with Umbra following close behind him. “You ready to go home?”

Riku stood from his spot and nodded, “yeah, I’m good to go.” Riku grinned as Umbra came over to give him love and affection. The goofy dog attempted to jump on Riku, but after a protest from the silver haired boy, Umbra decided to just rest his front paws on Riku’s stomach so that his face was closer to Riku’s hand. “Nice to see you too, Umbra.”

“You should visit more often. The door’s always open for ya.” Zack offered, earning a confirming sound from Terra. “I’m sure Umbra would enjoy hanging around someone other than Noctis every now and again.”

“Is Noctis here?” Riku asked, looking at Umbra who barked happily. “I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

“Yeah, he’s upstairs. Umbra saw me leave my room and he just chased me.”

“Dogs are pretty great.” Riku said with a smile.

“Yeah.” Zack nodded, “alright Umbra, get down! I gotta bring Riku back home now.”

Umbra originally gave a few barks in protest, but when Riku made his move to go and put on his shoes, Umbra began to whimper rather loudly. Both Angeal and Terra turned to Umbra to make sure he was okay, while Zack gave Umbra a questionable look and Riku raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“Why’s he so loud?” Terra asked as Umbra continued to whine.

“No idea.” Zack mumbled, leaning closer to Umbra after he successfully put on his shoes. “Umbra, calm down boy. He’ll be back one day.” Umbra made another loud whimper and began barking once more, confusing the four in the room. “What the hell is going on?” Zack asked. Riku could barely hear Zack talk as Umbra continued to bark.

“Umbra? You can calm down boy.” Riku reached to pet Umbra, who began to quiet down the moment Riku’s hand landed on his head. “See? Everything’s okay. You don’t need to be so loud so late at night.”

“You got something on you, Riku?” Terra asked, raising his eyebrow as he looked over to the silver haired boy.

Riku shook his head slowly, “not that I know of.” The moment Riku went to stand again, Umbra started up his whining once more. “I… I really hope I don’t have anything on me.” Riku went to pat down his clothes, feeling for something unusual. After patting himself down, he shook his head and turned to Terra, “nope.”

“Huh, that’s weird.” Terra mumbled.

“I’ve never seen Umbra do this before.” Zack added, “this really is weird.”

Riku attempted to take a step back, but the moment he did, Umbra began barking again. It was loud, but it was combined with his whimpers, which threw the four for a loop.

“What the hell is going on down here?” Umbra stopped upon hearing Noctis’ voice as he slowly walked down the steps. “Umbra, be quiet.” He commanded the dog who sat and wagged his tail.

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was gonna go deaf.” Zack muttered, “what the hell was that?”

“It looked like he didn’t want Riku to leave.” Angeal spoke.

“He _didn’t_ want me to leave?” Riku repeated, “why would he stop me from going home?”

Noctis shrugged, now standing at the bottom of the steps, “they say that dogs can sense things that people can’t.”

“Everything okay at home, Riku?” Zack asked.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Riku confirmed, “I’ve been flying under the radar so my brothers don’t really pay attention to me anymore.” The group heard Umbra whimper once more.

“Umbra, hush.” Noctis grumbled, “you woke me up. I heard you on the top floor.”

Instantly, Umbra quieted down, turning his full body to look at Noctis as he sat once more.

“Well, I mean, if I don’t get home soon, Sephiroth is definitely gonna tell me off for not being home earlier.” Riku pointed out, glancing to Zack.

“Speaking of,” Angeal spoke up, “Sephiroth hasn’t been doing anything unusual, has he?”

“Unusual? Nah. He’s been the same, as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s good then.”

“Alright, we should go then Riku.” Zack tilted his head towards the door, sending a concerned glance back to Umbra who had turned his head to look back at Riku. Riku nodded and slipped on his shoes,.

“You know, I’m feeling _really_ unsure about letting Riku go home right now.” Terra spoke up, “like. I _really_ don’t feel too good about this.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.” Riku insisted, “maybe Umbra really just wanted me to stay here or something. My brothers haven’t done anything to me, I’m _fine_.”

“I was gonna say it’s your call, Riku, but it seems like you’ve made up your mind to go home tonight.” Zack commented. “I really don’t mind if you sleep in the guest room across from Noct’s room. It’s really your call, in the end.”

Riku looked over to Umbra, who had somehow managed to turn his body whilst sitting down so that he was fully facing Riku. He could tell that if he decided to leave, Umbra would have barked again. And after hearing the ear piercing barks that Umbra gave the household not too long ago, he didn’t want to do that same thing to them again. “If I stay, can either you or Angeal call Sephiroth and let him know I’m gonna be spending the night here and I’ll go back in the morning? If he hears it from me, he’s just gonna tell me to come home now.”

“I’ll call Sephiroth.” Angeal offered, “if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah, I’ll…” Riku slowly went to take back off his shoes, “I guess I’ll spend the night.”

“Alrighty!” Zack grinned, tossing off his shoes and throwing his keys off to the side. “In that case, I’ll be in my room, getting ready to go to bed!”

“By the way, Zack!” Angeal yelled for Zack who had already somehow managed to make it to the stairs within a second or so. Zack paused and turned to look at Angeal, “Cloud’s motorcycle is parked in the garage. The keys are in your room, I don’t know if you saw.”

“Yeah I saw the keys, but thanks for lettin’ me know!” Zack gave a peace sign as he completely retreated up the stairs.

Angeal turned back to Riku, “I’ll call Seph, you can go ahead and go with Noctis upstairs.”

“Yeah, alright.” Riku nodded, walking past Umbra who chose to follow close behind him as he got close to Noctis. Noctis yawned and walked up the stairs, guiding Riku all the way to the top floor that he had literally _never_ seen before. “The guest room is…?”

“On the right.” Noctis pointed off to his right, “the bed’s already made from when Iggy and Gladio were there, so you should be fine.”

“Okay, great.” Riku nodded opening up the guest room door. He froze once he saw Umbra run into the room, sitting in front of the bed. “Umbra-”

“What in the world is wrong with him?” Noctis spoke from in the hall, “Umbra! C’mere!” Noctis called. It took a moment before Umbra decided to stand from his spot, and leave the room, walking up to Noctis with heavy pants. “C’mon, let's go to bed.”

Riku took one last glance at Noctis and Umbra before retreating into his own room. He sighed and dropped onto the bed without a second thought. He took out his phone and put it by his pillow and decided it was best for him to just go to sleep, and so, without even bothering with the blankets, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off.


	9. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids are actually in school now and Namine takes her time to shine.

Namine could never explain just how  _ happy _ she is when it comes to knowing that school is just around the corner. Not even figuratively, in this sense, but  _ literally _ . Right around the  _ corner _ . Namine grinned as she saw the school building come into full view. She had promised Sora, Roxas, Kairi and Xion that she’d meet them in front of the building before they decided to go inside. It felt like forever since she had been able to go back to school. 

Believe it or not, Namine was one of those people that actually  _ enjoyed _ every moment of school. She loved dealing with the teachers, the students and the crappy cafeteria food. She loved having to look around to find new friends, or even some of her old ones. She loved being able to introduce all of her friends to one another. Shoot, Namine even loved being able to do the homework. Namine always got lost in her assignments, doing so much that sometimes the teachers called her an overachiever. 

She felt that that had something to do with how Luna and Stella taught her to enjoy school. They would always do so much around the house, and still find the time to take great care of Namine. Namine always felt blessed to be cared for by both her twin sisters and her older brother Ravus. Though now, Ravus seemed to be overseas or something for his job, Namine didn’t mind too much. She had most of her siblings with her, and that’s all that really mattered. 

Namine felt a huge smile on her face, she couldn’t remember the last time she looked forward to something so intense before. Luna had even offered to help Namine style her hair today, even though it wasn’t really important, it was something that Namine and Luna loved to do together. With Namine’s hair being the same length as Lunas’, Luna decided to give her a similar hairstyle to her own. A braid of her own hair used as a headband, though Luna decided not to change her bangs, and she left the rest of Namine’s hair to flow naturally as it always did. 

Luna had even offered to help Namine pick out an outfit to wear for the day. It was extremely simple, an off white blouse and a pair of black jeans with white stripes going down the outer sewing of the legs. Of course, Namine still opted to wear her favorite baby-blue sandals, though Luna had wished she wore something different. 

Namine always appreciated her bonding moments with Luna. They felt  _ warm _ , in a sense. As if though she could literally  _ feel _ the care from Luna as they hugged or talked with one another. Though Luna never shared Namine’s passions, Namine enjoyed Lunas’ passions. Drinking tea specifically. She always felt that she was more connected to Luna than she was with Stella. Not even thinking of the fact that Stella doesn’t like Noctis, she hated him from the moment she met Noctis. Or at least, that’s what Namine gathered. 

For a while, Namine was confused about Stella and Noctis’ situation, but it also seemed as if though Luna had never noticed Stellas’ hatred. Namine for one wasn’t sure if she was imagining things at first, but everything began to settle in. She could never bring herself to ask Stella. However, a day came by when Namine accidentally heard Stella cursing Noctis’ very existence when she thought she was alone. 

That was when Stella noticed Namine, and she told Namine not to worry about it, but of course, Namine worried. Stella eventually gave her some more insight on her side of things, and the fact that she strongly felt that Luna shouldn’t marry someone from a different kingdom. Though, Namine wasn’t too sure what any of the kingdoms had to do with Stella’s anger, but Namine decided it was probably best to keep it to herself. She also felt like she knew  _ too  _ much.

Nonetheless, Namine stood in front of the school building, grabbing onto her book bag straps as she rocked back and forth on her feet while patiently waiting for her friends. A grin on her face. She was always an early riser, so she knew she’d be waiting for a little before her friends managed to join her. It didn’t take too long for her excitement to peak again, seeing Xion groan and grumble as she slowly turned the corner to reach the school. 

Namine had watched a few students run into the building, or some that absolutely  _ refused _ to want to enter the building without a friend of theirs close by. But the moment Namine saw Xion, she could understand why some of those people didn’t want to enter the building without someone they knew. 

“Xion!” Namine greeted when Xion was close enough to her. “It’s September 2nd, school has started  _ and _ there’s so many days left in the school year that I almost don’t know what to do with myself!” 

“Someone’s happy.” Xion groaned, placing her hands on her hips. Xion decided to wear all black today. Black ripped denim shorts, a black and white striped shirt that had a collar and a cute button to make the shirt look fancier than it was. It was one of those shirts with the see-through sleeves with a lace design at the hem. Namine noticed Xion also decided to go with her go-to black and gold sneakers, which amused Namine greatly. “You ready to go back to class?” 

“Of course!” Namine grinned, “I can’t want to see what classes I have for my last year! I hope it’s with all of you guys!” 

“Well, it  _ should _ be.” Xion chuckled, “we’ll have the same classes, but Gaia knows if they’re gonna be in the same section.” 

Namine gasped, “don’t say that!” She grabbed Xion’s shoulders, “what if they decided to put us all in different sections?! Then I’m stuck in a class with  _ Seifer _ !” 

“Oh that’d be horrible.” Xion shook her head slowly, “Seifer’s the worst to have class with.” 

Seifer, though people say he’s actually kind and caring, is an absolute jerk to anyone that isn’t Fuu or Rai. Those two decide they want to stay close to Seifer and support him every step of the way,  _ but _ , all Seifer has really ever done was just bully Namine and her friends. At one point last year, Namine refused to stand for Seifer cursing at Roxas because Roxas had managed to get a higher grade than him, and she told him to be smarter and maybe there wouldn’t be a problem. 

Namine huffed at the thought, just thinking about Seifer irritated her. “Remember first year, when he tried to flirt with Kai? But she turned him down and he yelled at her for it?” 

“Yeah, he said something like ‘this is why no one wants to date you’ and ran off with his lackies.” Xion shrugged, “it was  _ super _ dumb, and it made no sense. Apologies to Kairi for even having to deal with him.” 

“After that, he kept sending her notes saying that he wished she wasn’t in the school anymore because she was an eyesore for him, but then Axel saw one of the letters and he told Seifer off.” 

“Yep! After that, he didn’t even think to bother Kairi anymore.” 

“Then he realized that Kai’s close to us, so he tried to get to know us more.” 

“Yeah, I  _ hated _ that.” Xion groaned, “I just wished he left us alone, but that was when Roxas got into the argument with him too, and Sora insisted that Seifer and his crew stayed away from us.” 

“Ever since then, Seifer has just been nothing but  _ trouble _ .” Namine shook her head, “I really don’t want to be stuck with him again.” 

“Having him in  _ one _ class was enough.” 

“Yeah…” 

“Xion! Namine!” The pair turned to see Sora, Roxas and Kairi jogging towards them. Sora gave them a huge grin as he ran to hug them. 

“Hey there Sora.” Namine smiled as she hugged him back. 

“Hey Sora!” Xion returned the greeting. 

“Did you guys wait long?” Kairi asked as they got closer. 

“Kind of.” Xion grinned playfully. 

“Really?” Roxas replied quickly. 

“Nope! Not at all. Xion just got here not too long ago.” Namine chuckled seeing Roxas’ face that was subtly concerned go back to joy. “Are you guys ready to go in? We gotta figure out our classes before school  _ actually _ starts.” 

“Yeah! Let's go!” Sora yelled happily, pumping his fist in the air as he ran into the building. 

“What’s got him so happy?” Xion asked, looking over to Roxas and Kairi. 

“Uh, Sora was going on about the fact that he’s super happy that Riku’s gonna be taking him to a park…? This weekend…?” Roxas turned to look to Kairi who shrugged in response. “I don’t know, he’s just ready to get this school day over with so that he can go home and see Riku, apparently.” 

“Oh, speaking of which, I’m guessing Riku isn’t in trouble then?” Xion asked, as the group slowly began to make their way into the building. “I remember Riku having to spend the night over at my place, but when I woke up he was gone. I remember hearing Angeal talk to Sephiroth, but I have no idea if something good or bad was going on in that conversation. It was super one sided.” 

“Why would Riku be in trouble?” Kairi asked. 

“Iunno,” Xion shrugged, “whatever Angeal and Sephiroth were saying to each other didn’t seem too friendly.” 

“Aren’t they old friends though?” Namine questioned. 

“I thought so.” Xion shrugged again. “Well, anyways, let's catch up to Sora. I think he already found our papers.” Xion pointed to where Sora was waving a stack of papers wildly, grinning and laughing as he jumped up and down to catch their attention. 

“That kid has way too much energy in the morning.” Roxas groaned. Xion and Kairi made noises in agreement as Namine chuckled in response. 

“Look! Look! We’re in like, almost  _ all _ of the same classes, this is going to be  _ great _ !” Sora yelled as he ran up to his friends. “Senior year is gonna be amazing!” 

“ _ Almost _ all of the same classes.” Kairi repeated, emphasizing her confusion. “What classes  _ don’t _ we have together?” 

“Well, Namine has her art class with Roxas, but you, me and Xion have science together at that time.” Sora pointed to their schedules, “I did the quickest look over but I was so excited because these classes are gonna be super easy and I’m not gonna need to do any work and-” 

“Sora, Senior year is a lot of  _ essays _ and work and… college stuff.” Roxas pointed out, “just because the schedule doesn’t look too busy, doesn’t mean it’s gonna be  _ easy _ .” 

“Well, that doesn’t matter to me because I’m not goin’ to college.” Sora shrugged, handing each of the papers to the respective person. 

“When did you decide that?” Kairi spoke up as she looked at her paper. She took note that another class that she didn’t have with the rest of them was her special elective,  _ fashion _ . Something the rest of her friends had no interest in.

“Well, I knew college wasn’t for me originally,” Sora shrugged, tilting his head to show that they should get going. “But, I’d rather not sell my soul to the debt collector when I barely even wanna work as is.” 

“What  _ are _ you gonna do after you graduate, Sora?” Xion asked, “I feel like everyone else already knows what they wanna do.” 

Sora stopped in his tracks, looking around to each of his friends. It was true, Namine had planned to apply to an art college that was in Radiant Garden, but she also really wanted to go to one that was in Traverse Town. Roxas always had an interest in Twilight Town, and said that he wanted to look into colleges that weren’t too far out. Kairi was really into fashion and music, and insisted to go back to Destiny Islands, because there was a school there that was amazing when it came to her style of fashion. And Xion had her mind set on Twilight Town as well, but she never told Sora the reason why. 

“I…” Sora thought for a moment. All of his friends were going to be leaving him, but there was also the chance that he’d be able to see Namine- though she’d be busy with her art career. “I… I have no idea.” Sora muttered out. 

“Huh?” Xion turned to look at her friend, who was visibly distraught now. “Sora?” 

“I have no idea what I’m gonna do.” Sora answered, looking up to Xion. “I forgot that everyone was gonna be moving away and- and- all I’ve been thinking of was what  _ Disney _ cartoon to watch again on the TV!” 

“It’s okay, Sora.” Xion answered. 

“Yeah, sometimes people don’t know.” Kairi tried to help, “who knows, there’s a good chance that you’d probably be good with like, taking care of animals or something.” 

Sora sighed, “yeah, maybe… maybe I’m just going crazy.” 

Namine felt a frown pull at her lips as she could tell how concerned and upset Sora had begun to look. His pep had been faked after that point, that much was obvious to her, but she wondered if her friends brought it. 

* * *

After school, Roxas excused himself from the group since he said something about having plans with Axel before Axel went off to work. Of course, Kairi was offended at the fact that Roxas had chosen to spend time with her  _ brother _ and not  _ her _ , but she took it as their relationship was getting much better. In Roxas’ place however, Yuffie had joined them for their outing. 

It didn’t take too long for Sora to insist that it was his time to retreat, because he wanted to spend time with Riku and tell his boyfriend how school had been for his first day. That was when Kairi decided it was just a girl’s day out, where they were free to gossip without fearing that any of the guys would judge them. 

So, they lingered in a small but home-like fast-food joint and ordered a large bowl of fries to share among the group, as well as various different things for each person. Yuffie demanded that she’d be allowed at  _ least _ three milkshakes during their time in there, which Xion agreed to match up to, but Kairi and Namine made their protests. Of course, they were ignored. By the time Yuffie had managed to reach her third milkshake, she absolutely  _ refused _ to drink it. 

“I don’t want anymore strawberry flavored things for as long as I  _ live _ .” Yuffie groaned as she pushed the milkshake away from her face. “This was a mistake.” 

Xion chuckled as she took slow sips out of her third milkshake. “I told you I’d win.” 

“I’ll win next time!” 

“Yeah, but next time isn’t  _ this _ time, which means  _ I _ still won.” Xion teased. 

“Oooh!” Yuffie groaned as she sat up in her seat, grabbing the milkshake with force, “you think you’re gonna win?!” She yelled, forcing her little body to drink the milkshake once more. 

“This is going to end  _ really _ badly for one of those two.” Kairi shook her head as she took another fry from the middle of the table. 

“Mhmm.” Namine nodded, eying Yuffie as she struggled to take another sip. “Maybe you should stop, Yuffie…” 

“No!” 

Xion laughed as she took another slow slip from her own milkshake. “I live with guys,” Xion took a moment to swallow, “I’ve got stomach like  _ bull _ .” 

“Yeah,  _ you _ might, but Yuffie doesn’t.” 

“Yuffie’s going to have a nice time in the bathroom today.” Namine shook her head, reaching to take a fry. 

After a moment, Yuffie groaned once more, shaking her head violently. “I can’t do it. I ate too much before this! This is so unfair! You cheated!” 

“Nuh uh!” Xion stuck out her tongue once Yuffie threw an accusing finger at Xion. “Like I said, I live with  _ men _ !  _ Grown _ men!” 

“Those men  _ cheated _ !” 

“Zack, Terra and Noct are all very faithful people, thank you very much.” Xion grinned as she continued to tease Yuffie. 

“Shoot.” Yuffie mumbled, “I forgot you live with Zack.” 

“How’d you forget Zack was my brother?” 

“I don’t know! I looked at you and I thought ‘man Xion has a really punch-able face’ but Zack  _ doesn’t _ ! So forgive me for forgetting you live with someone like him!” 

“I have  _ other _ family members, you know!” 

“To be honest, Terra has a punch-able face.” 

“Terra’s face is almost the exact same as Zack’s.” Xion raised an eyebrow. 

“WELL. NO!” Yuffie yelled, “ _ Zack _ looks like a prince! Or- a king rather! Terra just- he looks like a really dumb version of Zack.” 

“So… Zack when he was younger?” Namine spoke up to ask. 

Kairi instantly chuckled at the comment, “did you just say that Zack used to look dumb?” Kairi asked. 

“Oh-,” Namine gasped, “I didn’t mean it like that!” 

“I think Zack looked perfectly fine when he was younger.” Yuffie defended. 

“Last I checked, he had the same exact hairstyle as Terra, and his face looks  _ just _ like Terra’s.” Xion spoke, “so… is there somethin’ you wanna tell us, Yuffie?”

“What?! No! I’m just sayin’ that Zack looks better!” 

Xion made a noise and pushed her milkshake to the side, “do you…  _ like _ Zack?” 

“No. Not in the way that you’re thinkin’!” Yuffie leaned close to the table, causing her friends to lean forward in response. “Look, okay, we all have hopeless interests in people, and  _ maybe _ at one point I liked lookin’ at Zack, but he’s definitely like a dad now and I’m not interested in dads so-” 

“Wait, wait, wait.” Xion put up her hand, “so you  _ actually _ liked Zack? I was just messing with you!” 

“Like I said,  _ everyone _ has a hopeless love.” Yuffie repeated, hissing under her breath. “So, now that you guys know mine, I gotta know yours. So, spill.” 

Namine glanced over to Kairi and Xion, who both were eyeing one another questionably. “You go first.” Xion nodded to Kairi. Kairi let out a groan and shook her head slowly. 

“Okay, so… when I started high school here, I uh…” Kairi let out a sigh, “I  _ may _ have… liked…  _ Noctis _ .” 

Xion choked on her spit. “ _ Noctis _ ? Like  _ my _ Noctis?” 

“Yes the same one that lives in your house.” 

“You liked him? Why?” Yuffie asked next. 

“Iunno, I found his princely air to be really attractive.” Kairi shrugged, “he’s still really cute yea, but I totally support him and Luna so…” 

“That’s very interesting to know.” Namine whispered. 

“Okay! Yeah, whatever. Xion? What about you?” Kairi called out Xion. 

“Well… I liked Roxas a lot, actually.” Xion spoke casually, “when Zack decided that we were gonna move here and Roxas was here with his dad before Cloud came, uh… I met Roxas by accident and we had a really good conversation and I realized that Roxas is just a really good person with a  _ super _ short temper.” Xion shrugged, “it was cool though. We don’t talk quite as much anymore since Cloud and Ven moved into the house, I think he just has a lot of stuff to do now.” 

“That’s…” Kairi mumbled, “that’s actually pretty wholesome.” 

“Yeah, dang. I’m sorry you don’t get to hang out with him too much anymore.” Yuffie added. 

“We did get to spend time with Roxas after he found out about Sora and Riku.” Namine spoke up, “but I assume you’re over that crush now?” 

“Oh yeah, definitely. It took like… a week of really liking him for me to realize that it probably wasn’t gonna be worth it, so I just lost interest and decided I’d stay his good friend.” 

“Ohh, that’s good then, I think?” Yuffie asked. 

“Yeah, well. Last up is Namine. So, who’re you interested in?” 

Namine froze for a moment, forgetting that she was actually actively involved with this conversation. She tried to think if she had actually ever been interested in one of the people that she knew well. Sure she liked people like Zack or Terra, but they were like brothers to her, they always treated her like she was family. She liked Cloud, Roxas and Ventus, but never had she ever felt anything romantic for any of them. 

There was Sora, Vanitas and Leon, but she was only close to Sora and she only ever thought of Sora as a good friend. Maybe Axel? No… Namine never felt anything romantic towards Axel either. His energy was always extremely high compared to hers, and though she didn’t  _ hate _ it, she wasn’t used to it. She enjoyed the rare moments of time where she was able to talk to Demyx, but… she was never interested in him in any other way aside from being a friend. 

She had even gotten to know Hope, who, though he wasn’t around very often, he was a year older than the group so he graduated when Ventus did. Namine had to admit, she liked being able to talk to Hope, and she liked that he was attached to a scarf that was given to him by his mom before she had passed. He was kind, sentimental and frankly, he had his moments of a short temper, but Namine always felt that it was justified. 

“Namine?” Xion asked, poking Namine’s forehead, “I mean, if you liked a girl, that’d be fine too. We wouldn’t hate you for it y’know.” 

“Huh?!” Namine shook her head, she hadn’t even thought of the fact that she could have liked a girl! Maybe she liked Serah, or Selphie, or even Vanille! Namine could feel her brain going a mile a minute as she sat back in her seat, completely confused as to what to say. “I… I don’t know.” 

“That’s fine too!” Kairi said as she sat in her own seat once more. “It’s perfectly fine to not like someone.” 

“Really though? Not even a first love?” Yuffie mumbled as she dropped back in her seat, Xion doing the same not too long after. “Like, did you ever have a conversation with someone then kinda think after a while, “man, I think I really liked talking to them” and just found yourself thinking about the person all day?” 

“Hmm…” Namine tapped her chin with her finger, she slowly shook her head. “I mean… not too long ago I got really distracted thinking of how I liked talking to Hope back then. After he graduated-” 

“Hope!? See! That’s a start!” Yuffie yelled, grabbing onto Namine’s shoulders. 

“That’s not really saying that she had feelings for Hope, she probably just liked talking to him.” Kairi clarified. 

Namine nodded as Xion spoke up, “but once he graduated, literally the only other time that we were able to talk to Hope was when Cloud’s birthday was here. Hope’s like… on the other side of the planet.” 

“True, he does go to a college called like… A-Acadamia?” Yuffie tried to remember. 

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Xion shrugged, “Hope said that it’s an Academy that his parents started when he was younger, and after he learns whatever that place has to offer, he was going to run it properly.” 

“Man… to choose to learn from a place like that.” Kairi sighed, “well. I guess Hope would be a good first interest.” 

“I-,” Namine started, “I never exactly  _ said _ that I was interested in him. I just said that I thought a little more about him than others.” 

“That’s true.” Kairi confirmed, “did you ever like Riku?” 

Namine thought for a moment, “I mean… I liked talking to Riku, but I don’t think I ever had a crush on him.” 

“Oh wow. People said that Riku used to be a  _ heartthrob _ back in the day.” Yuffie teased, “shit, he even coulda been a frat boy with all the girls and guys he coulda picked up.” 

“I could only imagine.” 

“Wow, maybe Namine’s just not interested in anyone.” Xion pointed to the blonde, “that’s not unusual, I just didn’t expect it to be the person I’d go to whenever I wanted to talk about romantic things.” 

“I enjoy our conversations though!” Namine smiled sheepishly, “I’m just not  _ interested _ in anyone, that’s all.” 

“Well, okay ladies!” Yuffie slammed the table as she stood up quickly, “I’m ready to go home! I’m not like y’all, I’m not graduating this year!” 

“That doesn’t mean we don’t have work to do too.” Namine chuckled, standing from her spot so she could let Yuffie out. “Should we go home then? I promised Luna that I’d spend time with her.” 

“That’s perfectly fine, we should get going then.” Xion nodded, standing from her spot, with Kairi following close behind. 

* * *

“Oh, Namine, you’ve come home.” Luna greeted as she saw Namine enter the building. The Nox Fleuret family had a house very similar to the same size as the Fair household’s, though some of the rooms were much larger due to not having guest rooms. Instead of having a third floor as well, it was just a large attic which Stella used quite often. The top floor had three rooms as well as a bathroom. All the girls’ rooms were on the second floor.

Originally they weren’t planning on making use of their basement, a basement that was going to just be filled of random boxes that weren’t important, but then Ravus informed the sisters that he’d be living with them. Not too long after that Ravus had moved into the basement. Their living area was actually set up in a different way, the couch was against the same wall as the stairs, while their TV was along the same wall as the front door. Stella hated the placement of the large couch, but Luna preferred being able to see her family enter the house when she decided to relax in the living area. 

The dining room and kitchen were separated by an arch on the left side of the stairs, though you could see the dining room table through the arch, you couldn’t see the kitchen unless you walked in. Both of which were big enough to fit twice the amount of people than were currently living in the house. Pryna laid next to Luna tightly curled up and resting peacefully next to the woman. 

“Hello Luna!” Namine greeted with a smile as she took off her sandals and placed her bag on the floor by the TV. “How was your day?” 

“I haven’t done much today, so I’m okay. How was school?” 

“I miss being able to go to school!” Namine grinned as she jumped onto the couch, startling Pryna who then jumped from her spot and went to greet Namine by tapping her nose on Namine’s knee. “School is wonderful, and I’m so glad that I’ll be graduating with all of my best friends.” 

“Did you spend time with them after the school day ended?” Luna asked as she went to lower the volume on the TV. Though it wasn’t loud, Luna wanted to make sure she heard everything Namine told her. 

“Mhmm! I spent the day with Kairi, Xion and Yuffie!” Namine went to pet Pryna, who decided to climb onto the couch next to Namine, laying down with a yawn. “It was a lot of fun, actually. We talked about so many different things.” 

“Really? Like what?” 

“Mm, well, I found out that my friends have all had strange interests in people that we know. I never assumed it, but it was really shocking to hear coming from them!” 

“Oh?” Luna let out a chuckle, “I’m guessing that’s a secret then?” 

“Yeah, I can’t tell you. I wish I could, but…” 

“Did you also have a strange interest in someone?” Luna asked. 

“Nope, I don’t think I’m set up to be romantically interested in someone. I thought it was strange, but the girls accepted that.” 

“Believe it or not, there are many people in the world that aren’t interested in anyone romantically. Ravus and Stella are like that as well.” Luna smiled, crossing her leg over her other in a regal manner. “That’s perfectly fine too, you don’t need to force your feelings.” 

“Have you always loved Noctis?” Namine asked suddenly, catching Luna off guard. 

“Have I?” Luna repeated, “maybe I have, I’m not too sure. I’ve always had feelings for Noctis. Maybe from the moment I met Noctis, I knew I was going to be in love with him.” 

“This has nothing to do with our homes, does it?” Namine asked cautiously. “You’re not forcing yourself to love him?” 

“I would never be able to bring myself to pretend to love someone like Noctis in order to make our families join together.” Luna shook her head, “I care more for Noctis than I do my own family lineage.” 

“I care about our family,” Namine spoke quickly, earning a chuckle from Luna. “I do!” 

“I know. I didn’t mean that I’d do anything to hurt  _ us _ in order to stay loyal to Noctis.” 

“So you  _ want _ to get married to Noctis?” 

“If he asks, I would.” 

Namine couldn’t stop herself from smiling, “that’s so wonderful. I want a relationship like the one you have with Noctis. I want to be able to know that the person that I’m in love with loves me back equally. Even if they’re a little nervous, they know they can rely on me fully.” 

“You’ll get your turn eventually, Namine.” Luna smiled to her sister, “I’m guessing you’ve already eaten?” 

“Mhmm!” 

“That’s good.” Luna nodded, uncrossing her legs. “I need to take Pryna on a walk before she gets too lazy. She doesn’t seem to want to do too much today either.” The moment Pryna heard her name, her ears and head perked up, looking to Luna for further directions. “Come, Pryna. Let's go for a walk, shall we?” 

Pryna barked happily, following Luna as she wore her familiar pure white heels. She had a habit of not forcing Pryna on a leash, as Pryna cooperated with her without any complexities. She reached for her keys on the counter right by the door and looked to Pryna who was quite excited suddenly. Luna made sure to pick up a bag or two for her dog before opening the door, excusing herself from the home and earning a temporary farewell from her sister. 

The moment Luna locked the door, she saw Pryna trot forward, initiating the pathway for her usual walk. Luna chuckled and began walking behind Pryna as she sniffed around, searching for a good place to pee. They continued on their usual path for a few minutes, before Pryna caught wind of a familiar scent. The moment Pryna turned quickly, Luna turned her head to match the dog’s actions. 

“Lady  _ Lunafreya _ .” Luna heard the man speak her name with a teasing tone. She faced forward, almost instantly catching his familiar red hair and stubble. “What? Ignoring me now?” 

“Ardyn,” Luna started, “what brings you here?” 

“I  _ was _ going to visit your brother, but  _ you’re _ right here, so I could just talk to  _ you _ .” Pryna began to growl, unsatisfied with the answer. She made quick movements to try her best to block Luna from Ardyn’s movements. “Ah, yes, you two and these stubborn dogs.” 

“You hurt Umbra, didn’t you.” That wasn’t a question coming from Luna, but a statement as she eyed down the playful looking man. 

“ _ I _ didn’t do it, my lady.” Ardyn placed his hand to his chest, and the other atop his hat. He went through the effort of taking off the hat, to place it against his chest to replace the hand that was originally there. “ _ I _ only chose to talk to Noctis. Those damned lackeys were the ones who hurt the poor doggy.” 

“Were they not hired by you?” Luna asked, watching as the man attempted to take a few steps closer to her. Pryna instantly guarded her owner, growling louder. “You need to leave Noctis alone.” 

“ _ I _ need to bring his ring back to Niflheim.” Ardyn reached into a pocket hidden by his long jacket. “Once we have that, there’d be no need for you to even bother to marry the boy.” 

“You have his ring?” Luna questioned, watching as he pulled out the Lucian ring, putting it in view. “Why would you take that from him?” 

“That’s what the boss wanted. I’m not too sure why it’s important to him, but, when I bring this ring back, Niflheim will once again be at peace and all of these precious little kiddies will be safe once again.” 

“I can’t allow you to take Noctis’ ring.” Luna stated, putting her hand out. “Hand it over, or I  _ will _ find ways to make you do so.” Pryna began to bark angrily. 

“Now now. You can calm your dog down can’t you, Lady Lunafreya?” Ardyn clasped the ring in his hand, taking a step back as Pryna began to become more vicious. “It wouldn’t be a good image for either of us if people saw your little Pryna acting in such a way.” 

“I’d like to think they’d see it as self defense. Now hand over the ring.” 

“Sadly, I cannot do so, M’lady.” Ardyn gave her a teasing smile as he placed his hat back on his head, tilting it in her direction. “As I said, I have my own mission to attend to, and  _ sadly _ , I cannot allow you to get in my way.” 

“You’ll leave everyone alone if you’re able to keep the ring?” Luna asked as she let her hand drop to her side. Pryna decided to quiet down, hearing the change in tone of Luna’s voice. 

“That’s what we were told, yes.” 

“How have you been able to keep such a close eye on Noctis?” 

“Now if I told you that, that wouldn’t make this very fun, now would it?” Ardyn chuckled, “I must be on my way Lady Lunafreya. Please, be safe on the rest of your journey.” 

Luna watched as Ardyn retreated back the way from which he came. Pryna growled quietly until the man was out of view. Luna couldn’t help but stare at the ground, trying to think of what to do next. No matter what, she knew she needed to get Noctis’ ring back for the boy. There was no telling how distraught the man could be knowing that he had ‘lost’ the ring. She let out a sigh, glancing down to Pryna who looked at her expectantly.

“Don’t worry, Pryna. We  _ will _ get his ring back. No one aside from the heir of Lucis deserves to keep such an important family heirloom.” Pryna barked in agreement, wagging her tail. “Would you like to go see your brother?” Luna asked, earning a second bark from Pryna who chose to start walking again, figuring that that was their next destination. 

It didn’t take too long for the pair to reach the Fair household, and lucky for her, she ran into Terra who was just about to lock the door behind he and Ventus. 

“Luna?” Terra asked, “what brings you here- actually. I guess you’re here to see Noct?” 

“Mhmm.” Luna smiled, not even thinking about the fact that Pryna had practically ran inside the house in search her brother. “Is he awake?” 

“If he isn’t, he will be.” Terra grinned, “c’mon in. Ven and I were about to go to his place.” 

“I hope the two of you have a lovely time.” Luna gave a warm smile to the two of them, “thank you.” She added once Terra allowed her to enter the house. Not too long after, Terra locked the door behind her and she slowly went to take off her shoes. Looking around the first floor, it didn’t seem like anyone had chosen to be in the living room, which meant Noctis was up three flights of steps. Well, in reality, it’s more like two and a half flights of stairs. Terra, Xion and Zack’s rooms were all on the second floor  _ but _ that staircase was separated by 5 or so steps and then the rest of the flight. 

When Luna originally found this out, she chuckled at Noctis’ laziness with him dreading every moment to have to go up so many stairs. As Luna slowly made her way up to the second floor, she noticed Zack’s door cracked open as she heard Pryna panting vigorously. Out of curiosity, Luna went to lightly knock on the door. 

“Come in!” She heard Zack let out a chuckle as she opened the door. “Luna! Did Noct bring you over?” He asked the moment he was able to see her. 

“I figured I could spend some time with Noct while Pryna got to see her brother.” Luna smiled, “I’m sorry she decided to ambush you.” 

“Nah, it’s okay.” Zack chuckled, “I was just fillin’ out a report, so it wasn’t anything major. How’re things with you though?” 

“Everything’s going well.” She watched as Pryna tried her best to lick Zack’s face. It was something she really only ever tried with Zack or Prompto, and Luna never quite understood why. “How about you?” 

“It’s all good.” Zack answered after pushing Pryna down, “I deal with a super happy dog on a daily, so, I  _ guess _ things could be less slobbery.” 

Luna chuckled at that, “how are things with you and Cloud going?” 

“Uh…” Zack made an awkward sound at that question. “Well… it’s really weird right now. Kind of strained, really. I saw him a couple of days ago and he hasn’t talked to me since, so… I’m not too sure.” 

“That doesn’t sound like everything’s going too well with ‘ _ Clack _ ’.” Luna spoke with quotations. 

“With  _ what _ ?” Zack asked, raising his eyebrow, “what the heck is that?” 

“I recall overhearing Namine and Xion say it a few times when they talked about how they adored your relationship with Cloud. I think Namine said it was a  _ ship _ name.” 

“Weird.” 

“It does sound quite strange, doesn’t it?” 

“Yeah, it really does.” Zack let out a chuckle, ruffling up Prynas’ fur and scratching playfully behind her ears. “But yeah, I guess it’s not going too well right now.” 

“Maybe you just need to sit Cloud down and talk to him about things seriously?” 

“Jeez, I’d love to, but lately Spike’s been pulling the ‘I can’t talk right now, I’m really busy’ card on me. I usually don’t pay too much attention to it, but he’s been doing it a  _ lot _ lately. Like, from when I got back from my last mission. I don’t know what happened, honestly.” 

“I’m not too sure either,” Luna let out a sigh, “I’m not too close to Cloud, so I can’t particularly… help much in this regard.” 

“Nah it’s okay. Don’t worry about it Lun.” Zack shook his head, “I don’t want you to worry about my relationship.” He placed his forehead on Pryna’s head, who allowed him to do it for a moment before she went back to trying to lick his face. Once Zack pulled away, he let out a chuckle, “how about you and Noct? Everything good? He treatin’ you well?” 

“He treats me wonderfully.” Luna said with a hint of warmth in her voice, “from what I see, everything has been quite amazing.” 

“That’s great! That’s what I like to hear!” Zack grinned, “I don’t wanna keep ya from talkin’ to him, so you can go ahead and take Pryna upstairs.  _ Please _ .” 

Luna chuckled and nodded, “come Pryna.” Almost instantly, Pryna jumped down from her spot on Zack, with Zack silently thanking Luna as she closed the door back to the original placement. Luna and Pryna then went up the next flight and a half of stairs to reach Noctis’ room. Pryna then barked to announce her arrival. There soon was a competition of barking coming from either side of the door. 

Luna could hear Noctis groan as he got up from wherever he was and went to open the door. Luna stood there with a smile on her face as the door opened to reveal a rather sleepy looking Noctis. Pryna and Umbra tackled each other, greeting each other happily as they ran into Noctis’ room. Noctis for a moment just stared dumbstruck at Luna as he tried to process the fact that she was really there.

“L-Luna?” 

“Good afternoon Noctis.” Luna greeted, “may I?” She gestured towards Noctis’ room. 

“O-oh, yeah.” Noctis stepped out of the way to let Luna in. Without thinking, Luna instinctively went to sit at the edge of Noctis’ bed as she waited for him to close the door and join her. “How are you?” Noctis decided to ask. 

“I’m doing well. And you?” 

“I’m fine. Just a bit tired.” 

“Has college been difficult for you?” 

“Not really, no.” 

“Have you been awake long enough to even remember what happens in the classes?” Luna teased. 

“I-,” Noctis lowered his head, giving an awkward chuckle, “can’t argue with that.” 

Luna chuckled and reached to rest her hand on Noctis’. “I just wanted to come visit you. Even though we talk a lot, I feel that we haven’t quite been able to talk as much as we could face to face.” 

“I promised you that I’d fill up the book.” Noctis mumbled, looking over to Luna. “we stopped writing each other ever since we realized just how close we were.” 

“And that’s fine, since we’re face to face now.” Luna insisted, “so we should be able to say the same things in person, don’t you think?” 

“I’m…” Noctis looked away from Luna, trying his best not to move his hand too, “I don’t know.” 

“It’s alright if you don’t want to. I have a feeling you’re much more comfortable with writing.” Luna used her free hand to turn Noctis’ face back to hers. “And that’s fine, I would never be upset if you didn’t.” Noctis gave her a soft smile, one that she could almost barely see, but she knew Noctis well enough to know that it was there. 

“Y-yeah.” Noctis managed to say after a moment. 

Luna let go of his face, placing her hand on her leg, “sometimes I feel that I need to remind you that I do in fact love you, and I’ll be patient for you.” 

“I know,” Noctis nodded, “I know you will.” 

“Good.” 

“And… Luna?” Noctis looked Luna straight in the eyes, “I love you too.” 

“I’m glad.” Luna let out a chuckle, “so, when are we going to get married?” 

At that comment Noctis pulled his hand away quickly, scooting over on his bed to give them room. At this, Luna couldn’t help but let out another chuckle, this time one more lively. “What are you talking about? Weren’t you just saying that you’d wait for me?” 

“I’m  _ kidding _ Noctis.” Luna shook her head, “Namine asked me about that today and I told her I wasn’t in any rush.” 

Noctis let out a sigh, letting the tension from his body flow away. “Good, because I don’t know what to tell you.” 

“Well, your father actually wished for you to be married to me by the time you turned 21.” Luna added, “have you ever opened that gift from he and I?” 

“I can’t.” Noctis shook his head, “whenever I look at it… I know it’s going to hurt.” 

“You shouldn’t hide from it forever, Noctis.” Luna moved to scoot closer to Noctis, regaining their original distance of being barely two hands apart. “If you wish to open it now, I’ll be right here beside you.” 

It took a moment for Noctis to stand from his spot, going over to his desk where he kept the box. He held it in both his hands, cautious as he brought it back to Luna. “Can’t you just tell me what’s inside it?” Noctis whispered. 

“I told you before, I feel it would be more impactful if you experienced it on your own.” 

Noctis sighed as he sat next to Luna, taking a few deep breaths as he slowly reached to open the rectangular box. 

“It’s okay to be scared.” Luna spoke up, placing her hand on Noctis’ shoulder. Noctis nodded slowly, lifting the lid off the box. He put the lid to the side and glanced at the item inside. 

A golden necklace. 

“Wha-,” Noctis picked up the necklace carefully, examining it, “what’s this for?” He showed it to Luna, who chose to stay quiet, but she used her free hand to point at the box once again. Curiously, Noctis placed the necklace in the lid, then went to lift up what he had assumed to be the bottom of the box. Once the material lifted, his eyes were trained on a note, and it was directed to him. 

“You can read it out loud, or silently.” Luna offered, “I already know what’s written on it.” 

Noctis placed the box on his lap then went to open the note: 

“ _ My son,  _

_ I know by the time you read this, I would be long gone.  _

_ I had the honour of being assisted by Lunafreya until her last moments being in such a dangerous place.  _

_ I’ve wanted you to know, do not hold any grudges hearing of my death. I held nothing against you, I love you as a king and as a father.  _

_ I hope for you to pass forth your love to Lunafreya. I hope by the time you receive this you’ll already be married to her.  _

_ Though, we both know you’re not that type of person.  _

_ This gift is for you, for when you wish to support the family heirloom while not wishing to have it on your finger. It is a chain I had specially crafted back in my old days.  _

_ Take care of your cousin as well, he knows he is under oath but sometimes I wonder if that man truly remembers his promise to me, for you.  _

_ Stand tall, my wayward son. My love will continue to reach you, even in the afterlife.  _

_ ~Regis _ ”

Luna could feel Noctis trying his best to hold back his tears. Of course, she felt bad to bring him back to such a state similar to when he first found out about the news. Not too long before that Luna had been escorted around Lucis in search of the King, confident that he’d be able to live. King Regis informed her that he wished for her to only stand by Noctis, to never guide him in any way, to let him choose his own path. He had told Luna to tell his son to never think that he hated his son for sending him away, rather, he loved him dearly. 

Luna watched as Noctis ran his fingers over a few of the letters. She could tell he was trying his best to keep it together. It seemed like if she even chose to say a word, Noctis would break down right in front of her. Umbra and Pryna had jumped onto Noctis’ bed, sniffing around cautiously. Luna turned to the two dogs and gave them both comforting smiles. Umbra and Pryna figured it was best to stay silent as one of their owners was clearly in his emotions. 

Noctis suddenly looked over to Luna, who was startled at the quick motion. “Thank you.” Noctis whispered, placing everything to his side. “Thank you so much.” 

“I will be here for you even though your father can’t be.” Luna pledged, “I too made a promise to your father, one that he chose not to write down for you.” 

“Zack’s sworn under an oath to my dad?” Noctis asked, trying to sound as normal as possible. Luna knew he was fighting back so many tears at the moment. 

“It was something Zack wanted to do. He made a promise to your father, and so did I.” 

“You’re never going to tell me what it was, are you?” 

“To never guide you,” Luna answered. 

“What does that mean?” 

“There’s more to it, but that’s all you need to know.” Luna smiled, reaching to place her hand on Noctis’ cheek. “You don’t need to hold together your emotions for me. I should be able to see you at your best  _ and _ your worst.” 

Noctis closed his eyes, “I know.” 

“Do you trust me enough to show me all of your emotions?” Luna asked as she placed her other hand on Noctis’ other cheek. She felt Noctis nod, though it was rather subtle. Luna leaned forward and placed her forehead on Noctis’ own. “It’s okay. I know you’re in pain.” 

“Luna…” 

Luna refused to say anything else, the moment she felt Noctis reach to grab her arms, she could feel him shake. And soon, she felt warm liquid run onto her skin. With a smile, Luna went to give Noctis a hug, who returned it, grabbing her shoulders to keep her close to him. Umbra and Pryna attempted to get close in the hug, but once they realized there wasn’t enough space, they moved so that their body heat was enough to support the both of them. 

“I- I miss him.” 

“I know you do.” 

* * *

At some point, Noctis and Luna had fallen asleep on his bed, cuddled closely together with Pryna laying behind Luna, and Umbra laying behind Noctis. Slowly Luna stirred awake, yawning and stretching carefully to make sure she didn’t wake Noctis. His room had become visibly darker, and it was much harder for her to see where she was. Carefully, Luna went to maneuver off of the bed with Pryna following close behind her. 

Luna glanced over to make sure Noctis was still sound asleep. Umbra however was awake, even though his head was still lowered, his eyes were trained on Luna’s location. She couldn’t miss those golden eyes, no matter how dark it was. With a soft smile, she waved to Umbra. “You should go for a walk.” Luna whispered quiet enough for Umbra to hear, but not to wake Noctis. Umbra turned his head, disinterested in Luna’s words as he went back to looking at Noctis, closing his eyes slowly. Luna let out a chuckle. 

Luna slowly made her way out of Noctis’ room, with Pryna following closely behind her. Originally, she wanted to check a mirror to make sure her hair was relatively okay after their impromptu nap, but she decided to just go down the steps and hope for the best. Pryna ran in front of her, going to greet whomever was downstairs. 

“Pryna!” Luna heard Zack and Xion yell together. Luna chuckled as she hurried down the rest of the steps. “Luna!” Zack added after seeing the blonde appear. 

“Hello Zack, Xion!” Luna greeted, “how are you two?” 

“We’re great!” Xion responded happily, “I didn’t know you were here still.” 

“Noctis and I fell asleep, I didn’t realize that I’d be here for so long.” 

“At least you guys are more comfortable with sleeping with one another.” Zack pointed out, rubbing Prynas’ ears. “How’s he doing?” 

“He opened the box that his father and I got for him.” Luna spoke, moving closer to the pair. She sat in the open seat next to the couch and placed her hands on her lap, “and it went about as well as I expected it to.” 

“He cried?” Xion asked casually.

“Of course.” Luna nodded, “he has a lot of pent up emotions from not being able to talk to his father, so I hope that he’ll be able to keep the ring safe, along with his new necklace.” Luna spoke with a small smile. 

Zack’s face turned sour quickly as he eyed Luna, “did he tell you what happened?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Noct lost the ring on his birthday. He’s been pretty down about it too, but...” 

“It’s okay.” Luna shook her head, “I know how to get it back.” 

“Does Noctis know?” 

“I don’t believe I ever told him about Ravus’ job.” 

“What does Ravus do?” Xion piped up, realizing she had no idea what the older pair was talking about. 

“Xion, do you mind going upstairs so that Zack and I can talk?” Luna spoke with a bit more of a serious tone. Xion gave them a confused look before nodding slowly, retreating upstairs without another word. “I haven’t told Noctis about Ravus’ job yet.” Luna confirmed after Xion disappeared from view. 

“If he finds out, he might be pretty hurt, honestly.” Zack mumbled, “are  _ you _ sure you haven’t told them anything?” 

“ _ I _ haven’t.” Luna placed a hand to her heart, “I can’t promise anything for Stella or Ravus though. I stand  _ by _ Noctis, however, and I found out about the ring through a mutual.” 

“Do you know where it is?” 

“I’d need your help more than anything, Zack. I cannot rely on Ravus for this. I can’t have him lose his job.” 

“And Stella?” 

“As much as I love my twin, when they leave, she’ll for certain leave with them.” 

“We can’t let them leave with  _ Noctis’ _ ring though, Luna.” 

“I won’t. I can promise you that.” 

“ _ I _ trust you, Luna, but I don’t know how Noctis is going to feel when he finds this out.” Zack sighed, rubbing near Pryna’s nose, “he might get really stressed out about this.” 

“I know he won’t trust me for a while.” Luna spoke, certain of the circumstances, “and I understand that. I would agree with him.” 

“It’ll take some time, but he’ll come around.” 

“Zack,” Luna started, looking Zack straight in the eyes. “I’m glad that Noctis has someone so understanding, like you. You care so much for him, and you have the patience to deal with him, even when you feel like you can’t. Have you told Noctis what your promise to his father was?” 

“I...” Zack let out a sigh, “I haven’t, no. I don’t think it’s the right time to tell him about that.” 

“Are you staying true to your word?” 

“Of course.” Zack nodded, “I haven’t forced him to do anything he didn’t want to do, but I’ve also been really focused on keeping him safe so...” 

“That’s understandable, for the moment.” Luna smiled, “in a few years, hopefully he’ll be able to go back to Lucis and see his home in its former glory.” 

“I hope so too. I know Leon and a few other people in his unit are going to be going back there soon to try and help out whomever they can.” 

“Are you going to go back there too?” 

“I  _ want _ to. But... the last time I went, I saw my dead uncle. I want to clear my brain of it a bit first.” 

“Will Shinra allow you?” 

“Not really. Lucis isn’t a priority for Shinra anymore. So it’ll be harder to get them to let me help out.” 

“I see...” Luna sighed, “I wish I could do more.” 

“You’re doing a lot, believe it or not. I need you to keep an eye on Noctis’ ring.” 

“He told me that they’re preparing to leave now. Since they have the ring, they were going to leave everyone here alone and return back to the kingdom. But, I can’t... I can’t let them do this.” 

“Neither can I. We’ll figure something out.” 

“I don’t want to put more pressure on you, Zack. You have a lot to take care of right now.” Luna shook her head, “this is  _ my _ family that’s interrupting yours and causing you trouble. I have a feeling I know who it is that’s been informing them of Noctis’ whereabouts, and...  _ I _ will be sure to take care of it.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“I am.” Luna confirmed, “I promise you this. I  _ will _ get that ring back, and they  _ will _ leave  _ everyone _ alone.” 

“What about the treaty?” 

“My marriage to Noctis is supposed to end the war between our families. A war that should have ended the moment they took King Regis’ life. They press for more, and I refuse to stand for it. I  _ will _ deal with this.” 

“If you ever need help, I’m here for you.” Zack mumbled, “don’t be afraid to let me know.” 

“I will keep your family safe.” Luna confirmed, more with herself this time than with Zack. 

“I know.” 

“Pryna and I should go home now,” Luna gave Zack a comforting smile as she stood from her spot. Pryna jumping out of Zacks’ grasp once she saw Luna move from her spot. “Thank you for having us.” 

“Any time, you’re always welcome.” 


	10. Boycott Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel comes to terms with some people from his past and Kairi makes some bad choices.

Now Axel was trying to do his best to keep himself steady. It wasn’t like anything bad was happening, but god knows what’s been going on. Lately he and Roxas have been able to spend a lot of time together, and Axel found it pretty refreshing to have to tell Tifa that he  _ may _ be late because he was spending a bit of extra time hanging around Roxas. He also learned a lot more about the blonde than he thought he ever would. 

After their first unofficial official  _ date _ , Axel felt like Roxas actually  _ wanted _ to spend more time with him, not like he was complaining about it. At some point he felt like Kairi was feeling rather offended at the fact that Roxas would come to their house, but it was almost never to spend time with her. But with Axel. Though, Axel also somewhat figured it was a way for Roxas to be able to get out of the house, since, by the looks of things, he wasn’t too big on the fact that he’d be in “charge” of taking care of a kid that Cloud brought into the house without any prior communication about the topic. 

Axel thought about asking Roxas about how he currently felt about Cloud, but Axel could pick up from previous interactions between the two that Cloud was progressively becoming more quiet and tired, while Roxas was definitely rearing for arguments. Axel thought about talking to Cloud about it, but he and Cloud have honestly rarely ever talked and he knew Cloud wouldn’t tell him much. He thought about talking to Zack, but Roxas told him that even Zack had no idea what was going on with Cloud. Of course Axel was concerned, but he didn’t particularly know the Strife family too well to really do anything. Aside from Demyx and Prompto, who were just cousins, he felt rather unsure of what to do. 

Axel honestly wished he could do more for the boys, but Roxas was pretty adamant about him not stepping in at all. Though, Axel would  _ usually _ heed the warnings of a person he was interested in, this time, he knew there was something more that could be done. There’s absolutely no way that he would let Roxas feel like he wasn’t needed by his oldest brother, and he was willing to step in at this point. This was one of the days that Roxas was at school with the rest of the kids, and it was also one of the days that Axel actually had  _ off _ from work. 

So, during the time that Roxas was out, Axel decided to go to the Strife household. Knocking on the door rather loudly. Honestly speaking, Axel felt rather unsure about doing this, but he wanted to get to the bottom of either one of their sides. He  _ knows _ Cloud cares for his brothers, and it honestly feels like he’d do anything for Roxas and Ventus, but it seemed unnatural for their relationship to feel so  _ strained _ .

After a moment of silence, Denzel opened the door, rubbing his eyes and letting out a groan. “Aren’t you…” Denzel cleared his throat, “aren’t you the one that was with Roxas that day?” 

“Yeah, Axel. Got it memorized?” Axel asked, pointing to his temple. “Cloud home, lil buddy?” 

“Yep.” Denzel stepped out of the way, “he’s upstairs.” Axel nodded and stepped into the house, taking off his shoes. “Are you sure you should be here without Roxas?” 

“I’m old enough to do whatever I want.” Axel shrugged. “But it’s urgent, so I gotta talk to Cloud, alright? If you see Roxas, don’t mention this to him okay?” 

“It’s our secret?” 

“Yeah…” Axel nodded slowly, making his way to the stairs, “it’s our secret.” 

“Alright.” Denzel shrugged, closing the door. “Good luck.” 

Axel gave the boy a comforting smile, shocked that he seemed so normal even though he barely knew the kid. Clearing his throat, Axel walked up the stairs, turning his attention to Cloud’s door. With a few soft knocks, Axel heard Cloud say some illegible words before assuming he was free to enter. 

For a moment, Cloud hadn’t looked up from his phone. He was sitting on the side of his bed, hunched over while staring at his phone. “What?” He mumbled. 

“Well, nice to see you too, I guess.” Axel shrugged, entering the room so he could close the door. Upon hearing his voice, Cloud looked up quickly, locking his phone to put it by his side. “What’s up?” 

“What are you doing here?” Cloud asked in response. 

“Well, I came to see you, I think.” 

“Yeah, but…  _ why _ ?” 

“What’s going on, Cloud? How are you doin’?” Axel asked again, rewording his earlier statement. 

Cloud’s eyes went to more of a squint as he stared Axel down. There was a long, stressful silence between the two. “What do you want, Axel.” Cloud decided to sound more demanding this time around. 

“Like I said, I wanted to come see you.” 

“Isn’t Roxas in school?” 

“He is. I’m not here for him though.” 

“Why do you want to talk to me?” 

“What’s been going on, Cloud?” Axel decided to get straight to the point. “I know you’re not the most social person in the world, but I’m pretty sure you’ve never been  _ this _ bad.” 

“I don’t think you’d know that.” 

“I think I’d know if my friend decided he’d hate his brother because of a sudden shift in his attitude. Which as been pretty prominent since your birthday. So, when are you gonna tell me what’s been goin’ on?” 

“It’s nothing for you to worry about.” Cloud shrugged, “if it makes Roxas feel better to hate me, then let him.” 

“You really sound like you don’t care, Cloud.” 

“ _ If _ it makes him feel better, then what’s the point?”

“That’s just it, I don’t think Roxas enjoys hating you.” 

Cloud raised an eyebrow to that, “what do you mean?” 

“I think Roxas is just upset that you’re bad at expressing what’s going on.” 

“I’ve always been the same way.” 

“No way, there’s no way you’re making  _ that _ argument with  _ me _ .” Axel emphasized, pointing at his own chest. “ _ I _ very damn well sure recall  _ you _ being helplessly happy when your birthday came by. I remember seeing how confused you were that Zack was taking you out on a date. How shocked you were when you saw all of your close friends there to wish you a happy birthday.  _ I _ remember seeing you like this was one of the happiest days in your life, which, I’d assume it was. Sure, Zack makes you happy, but by the looks of things, you’ve been pushing  _ him _ away too.” 

“Axel-” 

“If it’s going to be another excuse, _I_ don’t wanna hear it. I’m not gonna put up with it, yo.” Inwardly, Axel cursed himself for hearing the “Reno” come out of him, but at the moment, he couldn’t help it too much. “I’ve learned that Roxas is the type of person to get extremely defensive if he really likes or cares for someone. And that defensiveness turns into aggression. _Roxas_ doesn’t know how to express himself properly, and that’s fine, we’ll work on it. I’ll help him. But _I_ _can’t_ help you. That’s not my job. It’s either you help yourself, or turn to the person that you _know_ would help you.” 

“It was never an excuse,” Cloud started, once he felt that Axel was done. “It’s the truth.” 

“What is?” 

“It’s not something that you, Roxas or Zack or  _ anyone _ else needs to worry about. This is  _ my _ problem, and I’m taking care of it.” 

“What the  _ fuck _ is your problem, Cloud?” 

“My  _ problem _ ?” Cloud repeated, standing up from his spot, “my  _ problem _ is that people like  _ you _ and  _ Roxas _ keep trying to force me to tell you things that doesn’t  _ concern _ you.” He took a few steps towards Axel, “if  _ you _ weren’t talking to Roxas, you would pretty much  _ never _ know.” 

“Cloud-” 

“No, I listened to you, so you listen to  _ me _ .” Cloud interrupted, “I don’t have time to listen to you and Roxas trying to force things out of me. Maybe, it could have occurred to you guys that I don’t want to worry any of you. Maybe it didn’t. At this point, who cares?  _ I _ don’t. I’m  _ tired _ Axel. I’m tired of having to deal with this shit, and I’m tired of having to listen to Roxas’ temper about how  _ I _ should do things.” Cloud reached past Axel to open the door, taking extra steps to force Axel out of his room. “I’m tired of hearing the same old story.” 

“Why do you keep everything to yourself, Cloud?” Axel tried to ask. 

“I don’t.” Cloud stated, closing the door in Axel’s face. Before Axel could even try to open the door again, he heard the door click, and Axel assumed Cloud had went through the effort of actually  _ locking _ his door. 

“What the fuck.” Axel mumbled to himself, slowly retreating back down the stairs. He locked eyes with Denzel who seemed to have been watching cartoons. 

“Bad conversation?” Denzel asked as he blinked a few times. Axel let out a sigh and decided to join the kid on the couch, leaning back and drooping his arm along the back of the couch lazily. “I’ll… take that as a yes.” 

“That man is  _ stressful _ .” Axel groaned. 

“More stressful than Roxas?” 

“Believe it or not,” Axel lifted his head to look at Denzel, who had pulled his legs close to his chest as he was wrapped in a small blanket. “Roxy and Cloud are pretty damn similar. I can tell that there’s a lot of things that Roxas doesn’t want to say, but there’s a story there. And Cloud? He keeps everything to himself.” 

“Yeah, I’m not seeing the similarities.” Denzel shrugged. 

“Roxas is the type of person to speak his mind the whole way through. He’ll get upset when things don’t go the way he thinks they  _ need _ to go, and he’ll do his best to try and make it right.” 

“Uh huh.” 

“Cloud on the other hand seems like he prefers to keep everything to himself, and try to solve the problems on his own, by doing his own thing. He stops listening to people once his mind is set, and he’ll  _ make things right _ .” 

“Meaning?” Denzel raised an eyebrow. 

“ _ Meaning _ ,” Axel repeated, “they do the same thing, two different ways.” 

“Oh, like how Prompto’ll sit here and pretend like he doesn’t like Noctis, while Demyx’ll say that he does but he’s pretending that he doesn’t?” 

“What?” Axel raised an eyebrow to that. “I don’t think that’s-” 

“I don’t know. I heard that last night and I just wanted to sleep on the couch but they were so loud.” Denzel shrugged again, “why do they live here again?” 

“Demyx actually  _ pays _ to be here. Prompto is just here because he doesn’t want to be in the apartment that he has with Demyx on his own.” 

“So he’s free-loading  _ and _ wasting money by owning an apartment and not living in it.” 

Axel adjusted his position, crossing a leg over the other while his hand stayed draped over the edge of the couch. He turned more to look at Denzel, but also had an amused look on his face. “You know, you’re actually kinda smart.” 

“That’s what Cloud said after the first night. I guess I am smart.” 

“And you’re sassy.” 

“I wouldn’t say  _ sassy _ . I’d say  _ honest _ .  _ Got it memorized _ ?” Denzel teased, pointing to Axel’s head. 

“Oh, you got me, kiddo.” 

“So, Roxas huh?” Denzel started, “what made you like that guy?” 

“What? You don’t think he’s likable?” 

“To be fair, I’ve only ever gotten his cold shoulder, so I can’t promise you much.” Denzel shrugged, looking off to the TV. “Guess he just hates me or whatever. It’s honestly not like I care too much, but he could  _ honestly _ be more… friendly.” 

“I think that’s just… who he is.” Axel sighed, “when he warms up to a person, it feels like he  _ really _ warms up to them.” 

“Funny, you sound like a Roxas extraordinaire.” 

“Where’d you learn that word?” 

Denzel tilted his head to the TV, “I don’t  _ always _ watch cartoons. I know I’m a kid and all, but I’m currently living with grown men that like science and big boy words.” 

Axel chuckled at the last part of Denzel’s comment and gave the boy a smile. “Yeah, that’s true.” 

“You wanna date him?” 

“Who? Roxas?” 

“Who else?” 

Axel shrugged, “things have been… different. Like, it feels like things changed a bit  _ too _ quickly for my tastes. I work a lot so it’s hard to really talk to Roxas, but when we do, it’s… nice?” 

“You don’t sound too sure.” 

“No, it’s not that I’m not sure, it’s that…” Axel took a moment to think of the best way to explain it to the boy, “I really do like Roxas. In a way, we get each other. I just… right now, I thought I’d be more focused on trying to actually get our relationship started, but instead, I’d… rather be working.” 

“Is it because of how bitter he is right now?” 

“Probably.” Axel nodded slowly, “it feels like he’s using me as a rebound, in a way. Like he only really wants to talk to me when he feels like he can’t deal with Cloud.” 

“What are you gonna do?” Denzel asked, “you just gonna let it happen?” 

“Eventually I’ll come to terms with it, but I think Roxas feels like he needs someone to vent to.” 

“And  _ you’re _ going to be that person?” 

“For the time being, sure.” 

“Alright.” Denzel turned his full attention back to the TV. “Let me know when Roxas is tired of venting to you.” 

“You make it sound like he’s gonna stop talking to me.” 

“Who knows,” Denzel yawned, “he’ll probably stop talking to you like he did to Cloud.” 

“This household has some really strange drama.” 

“I think it’s just Roxas.” 

Axel raised an eyebrow, “what makes you say that?”

“Cloud is perfectly fine, he’s just dealing with his sickness. Ventus does what he needs to do when he’s here, then he goes to visit Terra. Demyx does his music thing, and most of the time he’s either down here or in the guest room upstairs. Prompto lingers around for a bit and he just lets things happen. Roxas? Roxas just wants to fuss and argue about every little thing, I feel like he’s the reason this household feels tension sometimes.” 

“Wait,” Axel’s face scrunched up hearing Denzel’s explanation. “What do you mean Cloud’s dealing with a sickness?” 

“Oh, oops, did I say that?” Denzel asked, “are you sure you heard right?” 

“That was the first thing you said and pretty much the only thing I caught, so  _ yes _ . I’m  _ very _ sure that’s what I heard.” 

“Yikes.” Denzel went to rub the back of his head, “shouldn’t you be going or something?” 

Axel moved his arm from draping over the couch, placing his hands on his lap, “what sickness is Cloud dealing with?” 

“Sorry, I’m too tired to keep talking. Y’know, little 10 year old body and everything.” Denzel started to stretch, faking a yawn. “You should go, we had a good talk, but I wanna sleep.” Axel gave Denzel a look, but he figured the boy wouldn’t say much else from what was already said. 

“Can you answer one question then, before I leave?” Axel asked as he stood from his spot.

“Uh, sure, I guess.” Denzel shrugged. 

“Is Cloud gonna be okay?” 

Denzel gave Axel an uncertain look, shifting his attention to the blanket wrapped around him. “I wanna know the same thing.” Denzel pretty much whispered. 

“That told me all that I needed to know.” Axel mumbled. “Alright. I should get going, then.” 

* * *

To be honest, Axel had absolutely no idea how to help the Strife household. While the kids were at school, he received a message from Tifa stating that she’d want him to work an earlier shift so that he could have the next day off. Axel honestly couldn’t bring himself to complain about it, he liked being able to sleep in and relax. It was something he wasn’t quite able to do for some time due to his own shift choices, but he wasn’t too upset with that either. 

So, Axel figured it was best to update Kairi and Roxas about his shift change for the day, and travelled to his car. With a sigh, he went through his usual routine for being able to drive to  _ the Seventh Heaven _ without too many distractions. All aside from his thoughts, actually. 

_ Cloud’s sick? And Denzel’s the only one that knows about it? _

Axel groaned, letting his mind wander a little. Not too much that he wasn’t focused on the road, but just enough to keep himself distracted to make the drive a little faster. Axel had to assume that that’s the reason why when Roxas would complain that Cloud was moving a lot slower than usual, it had to do with the fact that the oldest Strife was  _ sick _ . But why does Denzel know? Out of all people? Shit, does  _ Zack _ know?

Axel shook his head, he had a quick moment of thinking that maybe he should ask Zack about it, but as far as he’s concerned, and from the sparse messages that he gets from Reno, SOLDIER’s been pretty busy with something having to do with files. Apparently there were some inconsistencies with medical records with some of the 2nd and 1st class SOLDIERs, and they were all required to fill out replacement information for the time being. In actuality, Axel had no idea why Reno even bothered to tell him that information, he wasn’t a part of SOLDIER, neither of them were. And by the sounds of things, that was all supposedly classified information. 

Regardless, Axel had definitely thought about paying Zack a visit. As most people tend to do when they have time. It was something about Zack’s energy that seemed to pull people towards him, even when he didn’t expect it. Maybe it was that old “puppy energy” that would always kick in when Zack was able to see friends. Axel couldn’t help but chuckle at Reno’s old words about how the raven was more energetic then than he is now, but he still kept a very similar type of energy and air about him. It was so intense that Reno even expressed concern, thinking that Zack might pop one day from all of his excitement. He really did resemble a puppy. 

It always interested him to think that Zack had even managed to  _ woo _ Cloud, as per Zack’s words. Though, he never knew much of the story, due to him and Zack not talking  _ too _ often. Axel could really only ever remember hearing Zack say that he managed to help Cloud realize that he liked  _ him _ more than he liked Leon. So in a way, that was a plus? Axel found it quite entertaining to even think that Cloud had ever found Leon interesting in the first place, but in a way, that  _ also _ made sense. 

The familiar bar pulled Axel out of his thoughts. He found a parking spot somewhat close to the building and got all of his items together before heading into the bar. He was greeted by a rather happy looking Tifa, who waved him over to her. 

“I know you just got here, but it’s really not busy at the moment.” Tifa started by saying, “but, since I’m your boss, I can make you do whatever.” She added with a grin. 

“I’m honestly not liking where this is going,” Axel mumbled. “What’s going on?” 

“Okay, so, we’ve received some job applications recently, and I checked out the people, and… they both just so happen to be people that you  _ know _ .” Tifa grinned, “isn’t that great?” 

“Wait? What? People that I  _ know _ ?” Axel repeated, “who would that be?” 

“How about you go put your stuff in the back, and meet me in my office in 5. You’ll know then.” Tifa chuckled, “since it’s still day time, don’t worry about any customers, Rinoa can take care of them just fine.” She pointed her thumb back to Axel’s co-worker, Rinoa. She shot them a quick and comforting smile as she waved. “See? Reliable. Now, go do what you gotta do and meet me in my office.” 

Uncertain with Tifa’s confidence, Axel glanced over to Rinoa who was still looking at him with her motherly smile. “Oh jeez.” Axel mumbled, seeing Tifa disappear into her office. He took a moment before going into the back of the bar to place his stuff in their designated section. Axel then took a deep breath and slowly made his way to Tifa’s office, feeling more stiff than the first time he had even  _ met _ her.

The moment Axel had managed to push her office door open, his eyes widened. Not only was his  _ last _ ex,  _ Riku _ sitting in the chair across from Tifa’s desk… His  _ other _ ex  _ Isa _ lingered off to the side, close to a chair but it was obvious he had no intentions of sitting. “Y-” 

“I know you already know them, but since this is going to make me feel better, Axel, welcome Riku and Saix to the team.” Tifa happily directed her hands to the two. 

Axel stood frozen in place, the office door slowly closing behind him. “Saix?” Axel mumbled out while shaking his head. His eyes landed in Isa, “you changed your name?” 

“You did too.” Saix spoke simply. 

“Saix’ll be working here part-time every other day or so, he goes to a college in Traverse Town, so it’ll take him a bit to travel here every day. Riku’s working full-time though, so you’ll be helping each other out a lot.” Tifa explained. 

“I… I see.” Axel nodded, eyeing Tifa. “So, what do you want me to do?” 

“Show them around the place, teach them how to do things the right way. Show ‘em the ropes.” Tifa shrugged, “all the stuff that they need to know. I haven’t shown them around because I have  _ you _ to do it for me.” 

“Thanks for answering my question before I could even ask it.” Axel gave a strained chuckle. “Alright. I guess I’ll… show you guys how this place works?” Riku and Saix nodded, adjusting to follow Axel out of Tifa’s office. 

Axel could feel his stress build up as he showed the pair around the place. He explained a few of the different jobs, then led them back into the kitchen, where he figured everything was self explanatory. Though Axel had absolutely no idea what types of jobs Tifa gave them, he figured it was best to just explain the way how  _ everything _ in the bar works. From the day time shifts, to the night time shifts, and how vastly different everything was once 6 pm hit. By the end of Axel’s explanation, Riku had gotten into a conversation with Rinoa, leaving Saix by Axel’s side. 

For a moment, the pair chose to not even look at one another. But it seemed they had the same mutual thought as they both went to one of the empty booths in the corner. Sliding into their seats on the opposite sides of the table, Axel laid his eyes on Saix, but he tried his best not to let his anger seem to eminent. “Why here?” Axel started, “why’d you choose to work here?” 

“I’ve been thinking about living in Radiant Garden after I graduate. From what I remember, Tifa was one of the people that were paying well to work for her.” Saix explained, placing his hands on the table, connecting his fingers together. “It had nothing to do with you,  _ Axel _ .” 

“So you had  _ no _ idea that  _ I _ was working here? Or the fact that I had told you that I was eventually going to move back to Radiant Garden?” 

“That was years ago,  _ Axel _ .” Saix mumbled. 

Axel clicked his tongue, “just call me by my damn name, Isa.” 

“I thought Axel  _ was _ your name.” 

“It is.” 

“So what’s the problem then?” 

“I don’t like how you’re saying it.” 

“When did you decide to change your name?” Saix asked, “was it before or after you went to college?” 

“After we left Traverse Town.” 

Saix nodded slowly, “so just before you could graduate? I’m guessing you finished your last year of high school elsewhere?” 

“In Twilight Town, yeah.” 

“Is that where you went to college?” 

Axel felt his eyes squint instinctively, “why do you want to know?” 

“Shouldn’t old friends catch up,  _ Lea _ ?” Saix asked, his voice as calm as Axel could remember. “I changed my name too, after you left. We promised each other we’d meet again as new people, with new names, didn’t we? Why would you want to remember my  _ old _ name when we could be making use of our  _ new _ names?” 

“Well, this is us. Meeting again as new people, with new names.” 

“You don’t sound very happy to see me.” 

“I’m sorry,  _ should _ I be happy to see you? After everything that you’ve done to me?” Axel asked letting his tone get more aggressive as he talked, “how’s that going, by the way? With your wonderful Sugar Daddy?” 

“I never dated him.” Saix refuted, “he just understood me much more than you did.” 

“Yeah, okay.” Axel nodded, “whenever you wanna talk to me and let me  _ finally _ know the full story, I’ll be all ears.” Axel clicked his tongue once more, standing up from his spot. “But right now? I really don’t want to hear anything. Apparently, I gotta get used to seeing you in my face again.” 

“Who’s to say I  _ wasn’t _ ready to tell you the full story?” Saix asked, following Axel’s movements. “Meeting you here was by chance, and in a way, it was fate.” 

“I doubt that.” Axel grumbled, walking away without even giving Saix another look. His eyes were trained forward, which however led him to stare eye to eye with Tifa who gave him a confused look. 

“Uh,” Tifa started the moment Axel was close enough to her. “Is everything alright between you two?” 

“Yeah. Just peachy.” Axel mumbled, “I’m gonna get to work.” 

* * *

Axel never thought that he’d actually sit there and think that he  _ hated _ working at Tifa’s bar. It wasn’t just  _ one _ ex, but  _ two _ . Neither of them knows about the other, Axel had been very careful to not explain past relationships to Riku, and  _ Saix _ had been before he even met Riku. This however, Axel knew it wasn’t going to end well. He knew, and he had almost  _ no _ way of showing it to Tifa without making it seem like he wanted her to choose his side because she knew him longer. 

The worst part is, they’re  _ both _ great people. Though Axel preferred to just have to spend time with Riku, Saix wasn’t insufferable. Axel just had grudges, and almost  _ all _ of them were towards that man. They used to be best friends as well as lovers, and the moment Saix forcefully backed out of their relationship, that was the moment Axel had realized Saix had been working on another man. 

Not just any man, of course.  _ The principal. _

Axel knew Saix always had an ‘interest’ in older men, but Axel never assumed that  _ that _ was what he meant. But, it’s not like Axel  _ should _ care anymore. It’s not like his heart felt like it was forever going to be empty realizing that he wouldn’t have the only person that was amazingly close to him as well as the only person that made him feel like relationships were worth it disappear from his grasp. 3 years of dating and endless years of short distance and long distance friendships thrown down the drain the moment Saix dropped the news in Axel’s face. 

Axel could feel a laugh build up, he stood in front of his house, the front door key in hand. Axel honestly couldn’t remember the last time he ever felt like he had been betrayed by someone. He had the memory clear of the only person that had ever actually  _ hurt _ him this bad, but he couldn’t remember the pain. In a way, he was thankful for that. Axel slowly went to open the door, almost instantly locking eyes with Kairi as she sat on the couch. 

“Hey!” Kairi greeted, “how was work?” 

“The worst.” Axel grumbled, tossing his keys to the side and taking off his shoes. “I work with Riku and  _ Isa _ -” 

Kairi let out a gasp and put up her hand to stop him as she glanced to the direction of the kitchen. Sora, Roxas and Xion came peeking around the corner with food in their hands. 

“You work with Riku now?!” Sora grinned, “so he got the job?!”

“Who’s Isa?” Roxas asked, popping one of the cheese puffs into his mouth. 

Axel glanced over to Kairi, trying his best not to get upset with his little sister for not knowing the situation. “It’s nothing.” Axel shook his head. He glanced over to Sora, “and yeah, Riku got the job. He works pretty much whenever I do.” 

“That’s great! You guys can talk to each other again!” Sora grinned, jumping onto the couch with his bowl of chips. “You wanna watch a movie with us? Kairi said it’s supposed to be  _ scary _ .” 

“No,” Axel shook his head again, “nah. I’m good.” 

“I  _ told _ you Axel’s scared of horror movies.” Xion chuckled. 

“I’m just tired, I probably already watched the movie anyways. I’m a horror movie extraordinaire.” Axel grinned, “got it memorized?” 

“Pssh, I doubt it.” Xion shrugged. “Watch the movie with us and I’ll believe you.” 

“You’re not gonna win this Xion.” Axel let out a chuckle. “I’ll be upstairs.” Axel made his movements to go up the stairs. He stopped once he saw Roxas stand from his spot, handing his bowl over to Kairi. 

“Mind if I join you for a bit?” Roxas asked, his voice quite cautious. Axel gave a quick nod and continued his walk up the stairs, Roxas following close behind him. “Axel-” 

“If you’re gonna ask me about  _ that _ , I don’t wanna answer.” Axel interrupted leading Roxas to his room. Roxas decided to stay by the bedroom door as Axel went around his room looking for something comfortable to change into. 

“Alright,” Roxas nodded, “I guess I won’t ask about that.” 

“Thanks.” 

“How was work?” 

Axel glanced over to Roxas, feeling cautious about his answer, “it… could have been better?” 

“You don’t like working with Riku?” 

“Riku isn’t really the problem.” Axel answered, finally grabbing and holding onto a shirt so that he could change. 

“Right, it’s  _ Isa _ that’s the problem.” 

“Roxas.” Axel’s tone was a warning, one that he didn’t think would come out so instinctively. 

“Didn’t think that just saying the name would irritate you too, my bad.” Roxas looked around the room, “where’s Lea?” 

“My door was closed, so he probably ran downstairs. He’s usually with Destiny if he’s not here.” Axel shrugged, “mind closing your eyes for a bit so I can get changed?” 

“Oh-” Axel felt a grin pull at his lips as he heard Roxas cough, “y-yeah. Sure.” Axel waited a moment before deciding it was okay for him to actually change his clothes. “Why’d you name your cat Lea?” 

“It’s a name that I’ve always liked.” 

“Mmm… does it have a meaning behind it?” 

“Probably.” Axel shrugged, even though he knew Roxas couldn’t see. “I’d say it’s a pretty nice name.” 

“It is. I like it.” 

Axel glanced over to Roxas. The blonde was still leaning against the wall right by the door with a foot propped up on the wall and his hands by his sides while his eyes were still closed. “Yeah.” Axel agreed, his tone sounding a bit more cautious than he intended. “How was your day?” 

“It was alright. School’s just as boring as it always is, but my friends make it fun.” 

“That’s fair.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Anything else?” 

“I uh… I went home for a bit, before coming over here with Sora.” 

“Yeah? What happened?” Axel asked, picking up on the more hesitant tone. He looked over to see Roxas shift his position, putting both his feet on the ground as he held his hands together. 

“I talked to Cloud for a bit. It wasn’t anything  _ spectacular _ , but I guess it was better than other conversations. But that’s…” Roxas froze for a moment, “he… passed out… in front of me…?” Axel could tell that Roxas was still trying to process what had happened. “I didn’t know what to do so-... I called Zack, he took Cloud to the hospital.” 

“Cloud passed out?” Axel repeated, “is he okay?” 

“I told Zack not to update me, actually.” Roxas mumbled, lowering his head. “I don’t know what’s been going on with Cloud, but apparently… according to Zack, this is the second time this has happened this week? And Cloud never even bothered to tell me or Ven or… apparently Zack, Riku and Angeal knew.” 

Axel tossed his work clothes onto his chair stacked high with random outfits. Slowly, Axel went over to grab onto Roxas’ hands. “Are  _ you _ okay?” 

“I feel bad, Axel.” Roxas replied quickly. “I’ve been yelling at him and ridiculing him for all of the things that he’s been doing, but he’s-” Axel could hear Roxas fighting something back, “he’s not even healthy enough to keep up with it. I don’t know when this started but it… he honestly… he looked  _ terrible _ .” 

“What do you mean?” 

Roxas finally decided to open his eyes, looking up at Axel’s eyes with the biggest look of concern that Axel had ever seen on his face. That look wasn’t a look that Axel was used to seeing from Roxas, but from Ventus. “He looked like a ghost, Ax. I really didn’t yell at him. I actually… I  _ went _ to have a good conversation with him. I wanted to tell him more about how school was, but I knew… just by looking at him I knew that he wasn’t okay.” 

“Did he say anything to you?” 

“He uh,” Roxas let out a small chuckle, “he said ‘that’s great’ with this really…  _ really _ small smile.” 

“Did you tell anyone else about this?” Axel asked, placing his hands on Roxas’ shoulders. 

“No,” Roxas shook his head. “I figured it was best not to tell Kai, Xion, or Sora.” Roxas looked down to the ground, “the only other person aside from you and Zack to know was Denzel.” 

“Denzel was around?” 

“Yeah.” Roxas nodded slowly. “He looked almost as bad as Cloud, but I guess that’s because I probably made him feel scared of me.” Roxas let out another small chuckle, “I guess I was pretty shitty to him too.” 

“At least you learn from your mistakes, Roxy.” Axel gave the blond a comforting smile as he watched Roxas lift his head once again. “It’ll be alright. I’m sure Zack understands that you don’t want to know about Cloud’s condition because you’re  _ too _ worried, but…  _ maybe _ you should. If Zack hasn’t already, let Ven know, and ask Zack to keep you updated, alright?” 

“I just want to know how he got so bad.” 

“I’m worried too, Roxy.” Axel admitted, “let me know if you ever wanna go to the hospital, alright? I’ll take you there in a flash.” 

“Thanks, Axel.” Roxas nodded slowly. He locked eyes with Axel again, “I really do appreciate it.” 

“I’m here for you.” Axel added, “you’re my sister’s friend  _ and _ you’re my friend. I’ll help you whenever you need it.” Axel took a step back to give Roxas some space. 

“Yeah…” Roxas agreed, “yeah…” 

“You think you’re gonna be okay?” 

Roxas looked off to the side, “I  _ really _ don’t know, Ax. If I’m being honest, I really…  _ don’t _ . I don’t want to see Cloud. I want him to be okay, sure, but… I’m worried that he doesn’t… I just-” 

“It’s alright, Roxy.” Axel nodded slowly, “believe it or not, some people are like this.” He admitted, “I’d be too stressed if I ever saw Reno or Kai in the hospital. Angry, maybe. Scared, most likely. I wouldn’t know what to do, and I feel like you’re in that same boat right now.” 

“Maybe.” 

“Why don’t you go and watch the movie with the guys?” Axel reached past Roxas to tap on the door beside the blonde. “Maybe getting your mind off of things’ll help?” 

“Only if you watch the movie with us.” Roxas let out a cheeky grin, “prove to Xion that you’re not afraid of horror movies.” 

“I’m  _ not _ afraid of horror mo-” Axel cleared his throat once he felt his voice rise. Roxas raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. His face was practically teasing for Axel to continue. “I’m  _ not _ .” Axel repeated, “I’m just tired- it’s like… damn well near close to midnight and you guys should be home and getting ready to sleep.  _ I _ would like to go to sleep. And y’all have school tomorrow-” 

“Alright  _ dad _ .” Roxas shrugged, “I’ll let them know how much of a wuss you are  _ and _ I’ll watch the movie.” 

“Don’t call me dad.” Axel groaned, “and-” Axel shook his head quickly, “no, nope! You  _ and _ Xion aren’t winning this.  _ I’m _ going to bed.” Axel opened his door, “so you can go and do what you gotta do. Just stay quiet down there.” 

“I’ll be sure to make Sora scream as loud as possible.” Roxas spoke with a seemingly sinister grin. 

“Please don’t. I’ll hate you.” 

“I highly doubt that.” Axel watched as Roxas retreated from his room, helping the redhead close the bedroom door the grin still on his face as he spoke again. “Good night~.” 

“That guy really is something else entirely.” Axel mumbled to himself as he stared at the door. 

* * *

“It’s officially September the 4th, and Luna and Stella seem to be having the  _ best _ birthday of their lives!” Kairi grinned as she went to take pictures of the twin sisters who posed in front of their front door. Kairi had agreed to join Namine after school to help Luna and Stella get ready for their dinner. Apparently it had something to do with a family outing involving Ravus and some others that Kairi had no idea about, but Kairi was more than happy that Luna and Stella wanted her to design their outfits for the day. 

“Don’t they look wonderful?” Namine asked, sounding like a proud mother. 

“How does it feel to be 24?” Kairi asked, putting her phone away. She admired her work as the sisters looked at each other. “I’m sure you’re probably feeling  _ super _ powerful and  _ super _ beautiful.” 

“We can go with that.” Luna let out a small chuckle, “I’m feeling pretty good.” 

“Same here.” Stella shrugged. She looked down at her dress and pulled up the section covering her breasts. “I feel like I’m more of a dress with straps type of girl. Strapless dresses kinda… bother me.” 

“There’s definitely other outfit options. I figured you didn’t want to wear something too similar to Luna, so I figured the strapless one would appeal to you more.” 

“We’re twins, it’s kind of hard for me  _ not _ to look like Luna, at this point.” 

“Your hairstyles are pretty different!” Namine offered. Kairi nodded, pointing to Namine. 

“It’s fine, I’ll work with this.” Stella shrugged, glancing over to Luna who couldn’t stop smiling. “Did you deal with the prince today?” 

“I spent the morning with him and the Fair household.” Luna smiled softly, “but now I’m quite ready for this dinner.” 

“Man, it’s already almost 5, it feels like time just flies.” Kairi groaned, “it sucks, I’m gonna have to go to school tomorrow and live life like a school student.” 

“You  _ are _ a school student.” Stella replied quickly.

“That’s sadly too true.” Kairi sighed, shaking her head slowly. “I’m so ready to graduate.” 

“Same here, but that’s just because I can’t wait to go to college!” Namine agreed. 

“Alright, ladies.” The girls all froze to hear Ravus walking up the steps from the basement. “If you’re both ready to go, I’m ready to take you on a drive.” 

“Where’s the dinner at, exactly?” Luna found herself asking.

“It’s about an hour or so out, so the quicker we leave, the better.” Ravus answered. 

“Alright then.” Luna nodded turning to Stella, “are you ready to go?” 

“Yep.” Stella nodded, “well see the two of you later, alright?” 

“Yeah!” Kairi and Namine smiled and waved, watching Namine’s siblings leave the house. 

“Alright, what are we gonna do now?” Kairi asked, turning to Namine with a grin. “We could invite the girls over to play games? Or… we could go to Roxas’... or Xions’...  _ or _ we could see if we can successfully bother Sora, because now it  _ honestly _ feels like all he really wants to do is spend time with Riku.” 

“Can you blame him? He likes Riku a lot, and I don’t think he  _ knew _ until Riku asked him out.” 

“Would that  _ really _ be understandable though? Because what it seems like is that Sora  _ barely _ wants to spend time with us anymore.” 

“Then let's hang out with Sora  _ and _ Riku.” 

“If you think that’ll go well, then sure.” Kairi shrugged, “maybe I just wanted to hang out with Sora.” 

“You don’t like Riku?” 

“I love Riku.” Kairi replied quickly, “but Sora, Riku and I… we were like… a  _ trio _ , like nothing could interrupt us. Y’know? Kind of like Ven, Terra and Aqua. But… I barely even see Aqua anymore, and it’s really just Ven and Terra now.”

“You still have me and Xion.” Namine smiled, folding her hands together behind her back, “do you wanna call Sora and ask him where he is?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Kairi sighed, pulling out her phone once more. 

After some time, Kairi and Namine made their way over to Sora’s home, where they found Vanitas lounging on the couch. The door was wide open, which confused the both of them, but since Vanitas had pretty good hearing, the raven had chosen to stay close by. “Vanitas?” Namine whispered as the pair cautiously walked into the house. 

“Huh?” Vanitas replied, turning his head to look at the door. 

“Why’s the door open?” Kairi asked. 

Vanitas rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the TV. “Sora left the door open.” He answered simply. 

Kairi glanced over to Namine who shrugged in response. They went to take off their shoes and close the door, assuming the key that was stuck in the door belonged to Sora. The familiar mouse eared key-chain loop made Kairi come to that decision. “Well, we’ll be in Sora’s room.” 

The duo didn’t hear a response from Vanitas, but they also assumed he didn’t care enough to respond. So, Namine was first to reach Sora’s door, knocking softly in hopes it was enough for Sora to hear. 

“HEY!” Sora greeted, slamming open his door in joy. “Welcome!” Kairi and Namine laughed as they looked at one another. Originally they were startled by Sora’s hyper response, but it’s something that Sora  _ does _ . 

“You never said you were gonna leave the door  _ wide open _ .” Kairi pointed out as they walked into his room, closing the door behind them. “I thought you just meant unlocked.” 

“I  _ was _ , but then I figured, what if you guys knock on the door even though it’s unlocked, and then I’d  _ still _ have to get up to get the door and it’ll be a super huge hassle for me and Riku.” Sora pointed to Riku, who was in the middle of his bonding moment with Mickey. 

“Hiya Riku.” Namine greeted, reaching to play with the mouse on his shoulders. 

“Hey.” Riku gave a smile, handing Mickey off without a second thought. 

“Yeah, a hassle for you  _ and _ Riku.” Kairi sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Since Vani was out there, he didn’t care if the door was open fully.” Sora pointed out. 

“I don’t think Vanitas would care if  _ anything _ was open fully,” Riku replied. “Besides, Vanitas didn’t seem like he was listening to you earlier.” 

“He knew that Sora left the door wide open.” Namine pointed out, smiling at Mickey. “And… I don’t know. Maybe he really didn’t care much.” 

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t.” Riku sighed. 

“Well- anyways!” Sora jumped, “in 3 days- that’s right, you heard me.  _ THREE _ days! Riku and I are going to Disneyland and it’s going to be the best thing in the WORLD!” Sora went to grab Riku’s arm, grinning joyfully. 

“3 days?” Kairi raised her eyebrow, “why so long of a wait?” 

“I wanted Sora to get through his first week school first. Then I’d be fine with taking him.” Riku groaned at Sora’s grip. “I’m pretty sure it’ll be fun. It’s something he’s been looking forward to for a little while now.” 

“But didn’t you just start working?” Namine asked. 

“Yeah, I told Tifa about it beforehand. Since she knew me from before, she didn’t mind too much. And since it’s pretty much always the same shifts as Axel, he’ll be doing what he usually does.” 

“Don’t overwork my brother.” Kairi mumbled. 

“I think he overworks himself naturally.” Riku replied quickly. “I actually do half of the stuff Axel would usually be doing, which… is a lot, honestly. That guy likes keeping himself busy.” 

“I’m glad you’ve been helping him out.” Namine smiled, “I’m also glad that you get to work with him now.” 

“Yeah, working with Axel is fine.” 

“What about working with Saix?” Kairi asked.

“Honestly… I don’t know what’s been going on with Axel and Saix, but from the first day I could tell that they hate each other. Tifa asked me about it but I didn’t know what to tell her, Axel wouldn’t tell me anything either, and… I feel like it’s not my right to ask him.” Riku explained, “if he wanted to talk to me, I feel like he  _ would _ , but… I don’t wanna get in Axel’s way when it comes to Saix.” 

“How often is Saix there?” 

“Rarely,” Riku shrugged, “so far he’s only been there the one day, but that day honestly felt like hell. Axel and I were pretty good when we were working, but Axel was pretty focused on making sure he avoided Saix as much as possible. So, I guess it’s cool that Saix really only works there every few days or so.” 

“I guess that’s good then? That Axel doesn’t have to deal with Saix too often?” Namine asked carefully. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Riku agreed. “Could be better, but we’ll see.” 

“Hopefully things will get better.” Namine added. 

“Well, are you and Axel okay, at least?” Kairi asked. 

“Yeah, we’re alright. We agreed to be friends and that’s been working for us.” Riku nodded, “though, Axel isn’t exactly the  _ best _ at keeping up socialization at the moment.” 

“I could only imagine.” Sora spoke up, “he probably doesn’t know what to say anymore.” 

“Probably.” 

“Alright,” Kairi sighed, “what else is there to talk about?” 

“Namine’s sisters, maybe? It’s their birthday today, right?” Riku asked. 

“Oh, yes! They’re super pretty today! I’m so glad they asked for me to bring Kairi with me so that she could help them figure out their outfits for their dinner!” Namine beamed in joy, handing Mickey back to Sora and Riku. “I’ve never been more proud of my best friend!” 

Namine grabbed onto Kairi’s arms, pulling her into a hug. “Yeah, I’ve never done super fancy outfits? I was super afraid when Namine told me about it, but once they pulled out all of their outfits and asked me to make a few different versions of what they were looking for. I figured it out for them and it was honestly… the best thing ever? I’m so proud of myself too.” 

“What’d they look like?” Sora asked. 

“Oh! I have pictures, wait, wait! Let me pull em up!” Kairi instantly reached for her phone, going to her gallery to pull up the pictures. She jumped on Sora’s bed with the group hovering around her as she went to show them. “Look at this!  _ I _ designed these!” 

“Oh wow, that’s really…” Riku looked in amazement as he leaned closer to look at the outfits, “that’s amazing.” 

“They’re so pretty!” Sora added, “who did their hair?” 

“Namine did!” Kairi tilted her head to Namine, “Namine did hair and makeup, and I did the outfits. It was honestly like we were dressing them up for a wedding. There was so much just… around the place. Especially in Luna’s room. It was honestly… magical.” 

“I’m honestly impressed.” Sora sat back on his bed, careful not to sit on Mickey who was still loose in the room. Sora still had moments where he’d be upset at the fact that Mickey would chose to spend time with Riku rather than him, but it was getting better. “Like, I’m really glad that you’re going to be doing more with fashion design. I’m honestly…  _ happy _ for you.” 

Kairi turned to Sora, “by the way, Sora, I’ve been meaning to ask you…” She cleared her throat, putting her phone back in her pocket. “How have you been lately? I know you’re like, super excited about everything with Riku and Mickey and all but… I know since school started you haven’t exactly been… your… self?” 

Riku glanced at Sora, then back to Kairi who looked quite intent on wanting an answer. Namine stood from her spot and went to hold onto Mickey to keep him safe from the random bodies invading Sora’s bed. “I’ve been fine, what do you mean?” Sora asked, raising his eyebrow. 

“Sora, are you sure?” 

“I’m sure.” 

Kairi then turned to Riku, “if something was going on with Sora, you’d tell me, right?” She asked, “because we’re  _ best friends _ , all  _ four _ of us.  _ And _ we wouldn’t keep important things from each other,  _ right _ ?” 

“Y-yeah.” Riku nodded slowly. “Right.” 

“Okay, so, since there’s no secrets between any of us, have you told Sora about-” Riku instantly went to cover Kairi’s mouth. Causing both Namine and Sora to look at him in shock. 

“Riku?” Sora moved on his bed to get closer to Riku, who moved his hand to touch Kairi’s hair. 

“I just- sorry. I just thought about how you’re growing your hair out. It looks really nice on you.” Riku mumbled, leaning back from his spot. “Sorry about that.” 

Kairi, instantly distracted with the conversation now about her hair, reached for her growing hair strands and smiled, “I’m so glad someone finally noticed. I asked Axel about it and he didn’t even care to say anything. But I’ve been hoping that it looked nice and-” Kairi shook her head, “wait a second.” 

“It’s sad that your appearance distracts you from a topic about your friends, Kairi…” Namine whispered. 

“You just-” Kairi looked over to Namine, then back to Riku, now glaring at him. “You used my vanity against me.” 

“No that wasn’t it, I just thought-” 

“Riku.” Kairi put her hand up, standing from Sora’s bed. “I’m telling him.” 

“Kairi. Don’t.” 

“Wait, tell me what?” Sora asked, looking to Riku questionably. 

“Riku has his own little apartment, that’s what.” Kairi spoke, crossing her arms over her chest. “Of course, he invited me over so that I could help him out for a bit, but he was waiting for the time to tell both  _ you _ and  _ Sephiroth _ .” 

“Wait- so Kairi knew, but you never told me?” Sora asked. Pointing his thumb in Kairi’s direction, he eyed Riku. “Is that where you were that day?” 

“I wasn’t- I wasn’t  _ ready _ to tell you, Sora.” Riku also stood from the bed, looking back to Kairi, “and  _ you _ promised  _ me _ that you wouldn’t say anything until  _ I _ did.” 

“Like I said, there’s no secrets between us  _ and _ you used my vanity against me.” 

“This has so much more important than your conceited attitude, Kairi. It’s like-” Riku ran his hands through his hair, “it’s like an unspoken principle to just respect the secret. I asked you, because I had faith in you. I had faith that you wouldn’t say anything until you knew that I said something.” 

“I know that, Riku.” Kairi grumbled, “yet, you decided that you just weren’t going to say a single thing to me about Sora?” 

“What the hell are you talking about Kairi?” 

“I heard from overhearing you and Roxas talk. Of course, Roxas sometimes isn’t the best at keeping quiet when he’s stressed and riled up, so he may have let a few words slip. And it’s not just  _ you _ that I’m upset at. Sora too!” Kairi turned her head to Sora, “you never even thought to tell me what was going on either! You’re just as bad as Riku!” 

“Kairi-” Sora climbed onto his knees, nearing the edge of the bed. “I’m really sorry that I never told you, I just… I’ve honestly been feeling better and Riku’s the reason for it. Believe it or not, I’ve been  _ happy _ .” 

“Yes, I’m glad for your happiness, Sora. I really am. I just wished that you told me before.” 

“Maybe the reason why Sora decided not to tell you is because there was a chance things would turn out like this?” Namine spoke up, earning a squeak from Mickey. Kairi then turned to Namine with a confused look on her face. 

“What do you mean?” 

“That you’d just go and blabber about everything? That you’d go and decide it’s not worth it to keep a fucking secret and you’d go and talk about it?” Riku added, “you’re honestly not the  _ best _ person to tell important things to.” 

“Of course I am. I  _ can _ keep secrets, Riku.” Kairi defended herself. 

“I highly doubt that, Kairi. Never once have I ever been able to see you keep that damn phone out of your hands  _ or _ keep your lips sealed.” 

“I  _ can _ keep quiet, Riku!” Kairi stomped on the ground, pointing a finger to the silver haired man, “believe it or not, I’ve kept a lot of secrets over the years.” 

“Sure, sure.” 

“Riku!” 

“G-guys? It’s okay, I’m not upset or anything.” Sora went to get off of the bed, standing in between Kairi and Riku. Kairi let out a groan and Riku went to fold his arms over his chest. He took a step back and looked off to the side. “You guys don’t need to fight, really.” 

“We’re not fighting about  _ you _ Sora.” Kairi grumbled. 

“Finally, something we can agree on.” Riku added, “or are you just gonna go and talk about that too?” 

“Oh- you know what, Riku? I’m getting sick and tired of you doing this!” 

“I relied on you, and I trusted you, Kairi.” Riku went to look back to Kairi, “honestly, what was the point of even doing that?” 

“You-” 

“Well, what was the apartment for, Riku?” Sora interrupted Kairi, turning fully to face Riku. “You didn’t want to tell me or Sephiroth, right? So it’s important, right?” 

“Yes, it is.” 

“And you know what, that’s still a secret, right? I’m not going to ask into it until you’re ready to tell me. It’s  _ okay _ , I’m not mad at you for keeping this between the two of you.” Sora tried to be reasonable. 

“Sora…” Riku looked over to Sora, lowering his arms. 

“And Kairi, sometimes being controlling is something that you’re good at. You’re one of the ones that keeps us in check, especially if Riku isn’t around. You and Xion, remember?” Sora looked over in time to watch Kairi nod slowly. “And that’s  _ okay _ .” 

“I don’t think my controlling nature is a problem here.” 

“Yeah, I know.” Sora nodded, “we all know that you have an ego, and we all accept it. We love you for it, because you’re confident in yourself. I don’t even know what vanity means, but I know what conceited means, and I know for sure that your confidence can’t just be a big ego. You’re prideful, and you’d do anything for us. Especially to make sure that we’re okay.” 

Kairi sighed, lowering her head. “Look, I’m sorry, Riku.” She lifted her head just enough to look at Riku, making eye contact with the man. “I know what I promised you, and I knew this would upset you, but…  _ I _ was upset too, and honestly… I was probably just thinking about myself and  _ my _ feelings.” 

“I… can’t promise that I don’t think that you’re…  _ self-involved _ … but… I really just wanted it to be a me and you thing. And I know that it’s hard for you sometimes when things are going on around you and you’re not involved but-” 

“That doesn’t sound like an apology, Riku.” Sora interrupted quickly. 

“I’m sorry I said all those things about you, Kai. I really do have faith in you, and I really do trust you.” 

“I’d understand if you didn’t want to tell me anything else going on with that.” 

“We should have told you, but that’s not up to me to tell you, Kai.” Riku added, “like Zack likes to say…  _ that’s not my story to tell _ .” 

“That’s true.” Namine and Kairi agreed in unison. 

“I didn’t want to say much either,” Sora started, “because I’ve honestly been feeling better. I haven’t felt like I’ve been in a rut. Not… all the time anyways.” 

“When we were talking about colleges, Sora…” Namine spoke, “I noticed you weren’t the most… excited about things.” 

“Honestly, I feel like the only person I’d really have with me after that would be Riku. And… I decided I’m not… college material so…” 

“A lot of people that we know haven’t gone to college.” Riku pointed out. “A lot of people that we look up to.” 

“Shoot, even Noctis and Prompto go to college just because they need to get out of the house.” 

“Yeah but what if Leon thinks that  _ I _ need to get out of the house, so he sends me to college or something?” 

“I doubt he’d do that.” Riku chuckled, “he lets Vanitas linger around the place like a guard dog.” 

“Does Vanitas even work?” Namine asked. 

“No idea. Most of the time I  _ think _ he’s in his room, but… who really knows. He never makes noises so I literally never know.” Sora rubbed the back of his heck, “but, what if Leon starts telling  _ me _ that  _ I _ need a job?” 

“You can honestly get a job in just about anything, and it doesn’t hurt to try out different things.” Riku replied, “don’t stress about it, I’ll help you out.” 

“Yeah,  _ we’ll _ help you out, Sora.” Kairi corrected, eyeing Riku. 

“We.” Riku corrected himself, “we’ll help you.” 

“Are we all good, guys?” Sora looked between Riku and Kairi, who looked at one another and slowly began to nod in unison. 

“I’m good if she’s good.” Sora went to hug Riku. 

“I’m good if he’s good too.” Kairi added, smiling when Sora went to hug her as well. 

“The trio is back together again.” Namine smiled softly. 

“Put Mickey in the cage and get in on this Nami! You’re an important part of our group too!” Sora grinned. Namine nodded and smiled, placing Mickey in his cage before running to join in the group hug. “I love you guys.” 

“We love you too, Sora.” 


	11. Imperfect Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas, Ven and Cloud have a moment, and a lot of history comes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a bit longer to upload. I'm about to graduate from college (yay!) and I've been doing stuff for jobs. Once this arc finishes though I'm gonna take some time to finish writing the second arc, and I may change my original upload schedule (Every Monday) depending. 
> 
> Thank you guys for reading so far!

Anyone that knows Roxas knows that he can stress until he passes out. Either that, or he’d be angry until oblivion comes to stop him. Roxas is very clearly the complete opposite of his brothers. Specifically, Ventus. Roxas and Ventus are like fire and water, where as Roxas and  Cloud are like fire and oil. It never seemed like Roxas worked to well with his brothers, but they came to understand that his attitude had something to do with wanting to make sure that his siblings were okay. Roxas wasn’t good at expressing himself properly, which is something that Ventus was _always_ good at.

Seeing as Roxas was forced to grow up in Radiant Garden with his now possibly missing father who apparently went back to Nibelheim to live with his mother, he was never too good at expressing his feelings properly. Roxas grew up seeing his father get frustrated at things, and his father was usually very quick to act. Roxas never understood why, but he knew he picked up that trait and habit from his father. It was something Roxas had never even thought to tell Cloud or Ventus. He let them both assume that it was just a part of Roxas.

Now, Roxas isn’t used to people who are kind and caring around him. He never actually got to meet his mother, when he was younger, and Cloud had always refused to talk about her in any way other than saying “she’s nice” or “she’s kind”. Ventus also wasn’t too good with words, especially when it came to explaining her. He’d say things along the lines of “she’s a great human being” or “I loved having conversations with her”, but that was never enough for Roxas.

Roxas was always fond of telling his older brothers about his adventures with their father. Originally he’d start out saying “dad took me out to get food” or “dad remembered my favorite candy flavor”. But soon it turned into “I think dad’s mad again” or “I haven’t seen dad in a few days”. Not too long after that, it turned into, “he’s cool” and “he’s probably alright”. That was when Roxas knew that he no longer felt a strong connection with his father. He had gotten used to seeing the anger come from his father, that he began to think that anger was supposed to be a frequent emotion.

So, of course, when Cloud decided he wanted to bring some random kid into their house, he was going to yell at Cloud _and_ the kid. Who he had soon learned was named Denzel. After listening to Prompto and Demyx, Roxas learned that Denzel was actually a pretty bright kid, and he was only 10. He also felt bad for having to live in their house, but Cloud was the one that insisted that Denzel stayed with them. That was when Roxas learned what was going on.

When Roxas had decided he was going to try and make things better between he and Cloud, he learned from Denzel through the kid accidentally letting things slip, that Cloud in fact was not healthy, and neither was _he_. When Roxas saw Cloud pass out right in front of him, the youngest blonde had absolutely no idea what to do, so he panicked and called Zack. Originally Zack had taken Cloud to a regular hospital, but from hearing words from Ventus, they were forced to bring Cloud to Shinra’s medical center.

Of course, Roxas had absolutely _no_ idea what was going on, but he knew that Denzel was progressively doing less than he did before. He looked worse, he seemed like he was in more pain, and he was sleeping a lot more than he usually would. Roxas had no clue what to do, and he didn’t know if Axel was going to be the right person to run things by.

Roxas was actually getting used to the idea of having Axel around. It didn’t take long for Roxas to realize that Axel was actually a reasonable and laid back person to talk to. He listened to Roxas, which was something that was quite unusual for the blonde. Even though Axel insisted that he actually cared for Roxas and the things Roxas told him, there was a large part of Roxas that didn’t believe him. But there was also that part that _did_ and _wanted_ to trust Axel.

It’s funny how things can change so quickly with just a few words.

Currently though, Roxas was with Ventus and Denzel as the three of them were waiting in Shinra’s Medical Center. It’s been a little less than a week since Cloud had to be switched over, and Roxas insisted that he _had_ to skip school in order to check on his oldest brother. Ventus chose not to argue with that fact, but they both knew Cloud would say something about it. Denzel opted to stay quiet, since Roxas and he still weren’t quite on the best terms, Roxas certainly did feel bad. Seeing Denzel so quiet and pale, it was completely different from what Roxas remembered seeing from the kid when they had first met.

“Strife?” The woman called, looking around. The trio stood in sync and walked over to the woman, “your brother is ready to see you.” She spoke in a more quiet tone once they were close enough. “Follow me.” Doing as they were told, they followed the woman quite a bit until she stopped in front of a room. “He’s awake enough to talk, but please try your best not to stress him out. Stress makes it worse.”

“It? What’s _it_?” Roxas asked. The woman gave him a shifty look and pressed a button to open the door.

“If you will.” She pointed inside the room. Denzel quickly walked in so that he could sit in one of the free seats.

“No- what’s-” Roxas attempted to argue, but Ventus grabbed his arm.

“Cloud can see us, Rox. Remember what she said, don’t stress him out.” Ventus whispered. With a look, Roxas sighed and turned to enter the room, Ventus following close behind. “Hey Cloud.” Ventus greeted once he was close enough. He spoke in a low tone as he moved carefully around his brother. It didn’t take long for the brothers to sit in seats close by.

“Hey Ven, Rox, Denzel.” Cloud greeted, “I didn’t expect you to be here.” Cloud’s eyes laid on Roxas.

“I’m so sorry, Cloud.” Roxas started, “I didn’t know that you weren’t okay. You- you never told us. If I knew I wouldn’t have been so hard on you.”

“Roxas,” Cloud shook his head, “even if you knew, I’m pretty sure you’d still be the same way.”

“Do you hate me?”

“Of course not.”

“Still, I’m so sorry.” Roxas mumbled, “I just…”

“What’s going on, by the way?” Ventus spoke up, “ever since you were put here, Denzel’s been looking worse than he was before. It’s like just you being in the house kept him looking healthy.”

Cloud took a glance at Denzel then slowly went to push himself up on the medical bed. With a groan, he asked the child, “you never told them?”

“I’m not too confident on saying things like that without you nearby. You’re honestly the only person that fully backs me up and understands what’s going on.” Denzel spoke up.

“Yeah, what’s that about? Why would you need Cloud to back you up?” Ventus asked.

“I… we-”

“We both have the same sickness.” Cloud answered, “Denzel’s not able to get the medicine on his own, so I’ve been getting it for both of us. Since I never got the chance to… _explain_ what was going on, I have a feeling Denzel must have just been suffering.”

“At least _you’re_ looking healthy,” Roxas started. “It’s been a while since you looked like this.”

“Yeah.” Cloud nodded.

“So, what’s the sickness then?” Ventus asked, “do _I_ have it? Do all of us have it? Is it contagious?”

“You’d know if you had this.” Denzel spoke, “it’s not the most painless sickness.”

“So what is it?” Ventus asked again.

“It’s uh…” Cloud cleared his throat, “it’s called Geostigma.”

“Geo-what now?”

“Geostigma.” Denzel repeated.

“Isn’t that like… that thing that started in Midgar?” Roxas asked.

“Yeah,” Cloud nodded again, “it’s mainly seen around Midgar, and a lot of people are capable of dying from it.”

“But- is it curable?” Ventus asked.

“No.”

“So you’re stuck like this? You’re stuck being sick like this?”

“ _I_ got it from being an idiot,” Cloud explained, “I did some dumb things and now I’m paying the price for it.”

“And I’m guessing that since Denzel was a resident of Midgar, he had almost no choice?” Ventus clarified.

“Just about.” Denzel nodded.

“You guys are really stuck like this?” Roxas whispered, “well- how do you get the medicine then?”

“The best medicine is what Shinra supplies to SOLDIERs.” Cloud answered, “but-”

“Oh no, what’s the but?” Ventus asked.

“I’m not cleared for it.” Cloud added, “I can’t get it on my own.”

“Even after this?!” Roxas yelled, “how could they not clear you for it even if- even though they know that you’re not okay?!”

“It was marked off early on, there’s not really anything I can do about it.” Cloud replied, “I wouldn’t have been able to… constantly get a good flow of the medicine anyways, I’m not SOLDIER 1st Class.”

“To hell with those ranks! What does all of that matter if one of their own workers are literally _dying_ under their watch?!”

“Roxas, calm down.” Ventus reached to grab onto Roxas, who had stood up in anger not too long ago. Once he was able to get a hold of Roxas, Ventus decided to ask, “so then, how are you getting the medicine now?”

“Zack.”

“So it’s okay if you get the medicine from Zack?” Roxas asked.

“For now.” Cloud added, “once I’m good to go, I’m not going to be able to get the medicine again. Not by using Zack at least.”

“Thank fuck that you have a guy that loves you as much as Zack does.” Roxas groaned, sulking in his chair.

“How did Zack take it, by the way?” Ventus asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You told Zack, right? How did he take it?”

Cloud froze for a moment, looking down to his hands. “Zack… he… Zack was still pretty confused about everything, and I don’t blame him. But, when I told him what was going on… I never… I never saw Zack so quiet before. Like, he was trying to figure things out. I know there’s been plenty of times where he’s actually been serious about things, but this… this was completely different.”

“How did Zack convince them to give you the medicine?” Denzel asked next.

“I don’t know what Zack did.” Cloud shrugged, “we were in the other hospital originally, but I knew I wasn’t getting any better and Zack was freaking out. So, I decided to tell him, and once I did, the next day and the next thing I knew, I was being transported here. Whatever Zack did worked, but… it’s temporary.”

“Right… once you get out of here, you’re back to getting the medicine however you were getting it before?” Ventus asked.

“Yeah.”

“How _were_ you getting it before?” Roxas asked.

“I...” Cloud shook his head, “some things are better left unsaid, right now.”

“But-”

“I’m just glad that you’ve told us this much.” Ventus interrupted, putting a hand on Roxas’ shoulder again. “For me, right now… that’s enough.”

Roxas let out a groan, “yeah. I guess.”

“Thanks for understanding.” Cloud let out a small smile. “I’ll figure something out, once I’m free to get out of here, but, for now…”

“Is there a way that you can help Denzel though?” Ventus looked over to the boy, “he looks… terrible.”

“Right now?” Cloud asked, looking to his arm where he was attached to an IV, “I don’t think I’d be able to pull this out without someone knowing.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Denzel shook his head, “I’ll be fine.”

“I highly doubt that.” Roxas replied, “can’t we ask a nurse or something to help him out?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Cloud replied.

“Does Zack know about Denzel too?” Ventus asked.

“Yeah, I told Zack about Denzel.”

“Wait, so Zack knows about Denzel’s situation and he hasn’t tried to do anything for Denzel?” Roxas leaned forward in his seat.

“Knowing Zack, he’s definitely tried.” Cloud answered. “Also, Zack should be here soon. It’s almost 1 pm.” Cloud glanced up to the clock.

“He visits you at 1 pm?” Ventus asked.

“Yep.”

As if on cue, the group froze once the door opened, revealing a rather happy looking Zack saying his thanks to the same nurse from before. “Hey babe! The lady said that you had some other visitors but-” Zack froze once he laid eyes on the group. “Oh- you guys _are_ here!”

Zack went to hug each one of the siblings, leaving Denzel for last as he grabbed the last free seat close to Denzel, which was right by Cloud’s head. “I didn’t think I’d see you guys here today.”

“Roxas was feeling antsy, and I really wanted to see Cloud.” Ventus answered.

“Also, when did you start calling Cloud “ _babe_ ”?” Roxas asked with a teasing voice. Ventus and Denzel chuckled in response.

“Do you really wanna know?” Zack asked, raising his eyebrow curiously. He crossed his leg carefully over the other, and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his seat.

“I just wanna know when you stopped saying “Spike”, honestly.”

“Never stopped, and I call Spike whatever I wanna call him when we’re alone.” Zack answered simply. Cloud could feel his face heat up at the answer, which led Ventus and Roxas to chuckle and Denzel to give four of them a confused look.

“You’re full of surprises, Zack.” Ventus chuckled out.

“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.” Zack gave the blonde a grin. He then glanced over to Cloud, “how ya doin’ Spike? Any better than yesterday?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good now, actually.” Cloud raised his arm, “better than usual, even.”

“That’s great.” Zack nodded, earning a nod from Cloud, “so, we’ve been doing a lot of medicinal notes and files and stuff for SOLDIER lately, trying to figure out where all the inconsistencies are-”

“Are you sure we should be talking about this with them here?” Cloud asked, giving Zack a concerned look.

“I wasn’t planning on saying any of the extra classified stuff,” Zack huffed, “but if you don’t wanna know now, I’ll wait for another time.”

“Did you guys at least figure out what was going on?”

“Yep!” Zack leaned forward in his seat, “well at least Angeal and I know. But, Angeal doesn’t want to take it to Lazard just yet.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a little _too_ inconsistent for Angeal, right now. I can understand why, but I think Angeal wants to get to the bottom of it before we take it to Lazard.” Zack explained.

Cloud nodded slowly, “I… see.”

“On the other hand though, and this is also pretty good news,” Zack uncrossed his legs, looking over to Denzel, “we’re gonna be able to get you some help too, little buddy.”

“Wait, really?” Denzel and Cloud asked in sync. Zack looked over to Cloud.

“Angeal agreed with me, and since he’s better at persuasion than I am, Lazard was _willing_ to give some extra medicine for the kid.” Zack looked from Cloud to Denzel, “I think he thinks Angeal’s taking care of you and not Spike. That and he definitely likes Angeal more than he likes me, so… they’re gonna be giving Angeal some medicine for ya.”

“That is great.” Cloud smiled.

Roxas looked to Ventus, who gave a similar smile as he was listening to the conversation. Something in Roxas’ body wasn’t _too_ happy about the situation, but he _was_ definitely happy that at least one of them were getting the help they needed.

“But that’s just me, what about Cloud? When he gets out of here, who’s going to help him?” Denzel asked, “the medicine that Cloud was getting was a lot stronger than what I needed. I didn’t need as much as Cloud did.”

“I know.” Zack nodded, “we’re still trying to figure out Spike’s situation, but, believe it or not, this is what Spike wanted.”

“What?” Denzel, Roxas and Ventus asked in unison, turning to Cloud.

“No way, Cloud- you weren’t planning on-”

“I’m not going to let myself _die_ just to keep Denzel safe. But for now, Denzel needs it more than I do. I wanted Zack to help Denzel first. I can still get my medicine on my own, but it was much harder trying to help Denzel too.” Cloud explained.

“What do you mean?” Ventus asked.

“Cloud was giving me doses of the medicine that he got, which wasn’t a _lot_ , but it was enough for me. Cloud sharing his medicine wasn’t… it wasn’t good for him. That’s why he’s _here_.” Denzel pointed to the hospital bed, “he was more focused on trying to help me than myself that he…” Denzel stopped once Zack placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You would willingly… hurt yourself so that you could help _him_?” Roxas asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

“Yes.” Cloud answered simply. Before Roxas could even manage to jump up from his seat, Ventus was already grabbing and forcing him to stay put. “Roxas, he’s a _child_.” Cloud went to add, “there’s literally no way that Denzel would be able to help himself-”

“ _You_ were the one that decided you were going to bring Denzel into your life. Not us! Not Ven or I, and definitely not _Zack_!” Roxas began yelling, “and yet, for some reason you think it’s okay to risk your own damn life to save some kid that you barely even know?! It sounds like you’ve given up on even helping yourself, Cloud. It sounds like you’d rather lose yourself and cause Ven and I to suffer with the lack of a fucking _brother_ just so that you can help _him_!” Roxas threw a finger in Denzel’s direction, startling the boy.

“Roxas, you need to calm down!” Ventus yelled, “believe it or not, Cloud always has a reason for his madness.”

“Yeah, _yeah_.” Roxas hissed, “like how his reason for not bringing me to see my own damn parents is because “ _Nibelheim isn’t interesting_ ” or even “ _I don’t feel comfortable making the drive up there_ ”? All Cloud fucking does is avoid things. He avoids confrontations until he realizes that there’s no other choice for him!”

“Roxas-”

“Oh ho ho, by all _fucking_ means, Cloud. I _want_ to hear your explanation on this.” Roxas interrupted the oldest blond, forcefully shrugging Ventus off of him.

“Our mom is fine.” Cloud answered, “I don’t like being in Nibelheim, and I’m _sorry_.”

Thrown back by his words, Roxas shook his head, “w-what?”

“I’m _sorry_ , okay? I didn’t know that you wanted to see them that badly. I never made a plan to go back and see mom. I never really wanted to see our dad, and… honestly, we won’t have to.”

“Wait- what?” Ventus asked, “we won’t have to?”

“I wanted to tell you guys this earlier, but, it’s just our mom now.”

“Is he… y’know…” Ventus whispered.

“Which answer would you prefer?” Cloud raised an eyebrow as he asked.

“I… I don’t know, really.”

“Wait, dad is-” Roxas ran a hand through his hair, “but I… he never bothered to talk to any of us and-”

“Roxas,” Cloud stared at the youngest blonde “you were stuck dealing with the worst person possible.” Cloud let out a sigh, “I wish I could say I’m glad he actually kept you safe, but… I really wanted you to live with Ven and I.”

“You… you _wanted_ me to be with you guys?”

“Of course.” Cloud nodded, “that guy… that guy you were stuck with… he wasn’t sane. When I found out from mom, I regretted every moment of not being able to come down here sooner to help you.”

“I didn’t need any help though.”

“I wish I could have stopped _this_.”

“This? What _this_?”

“Your anger, Roxas. You got that from him.” Cloud pointed out, “if I knew that it was going to be this bad, I would have left home much sooner.”

“You’re blaming that on him? What if I was just naturally angry?”

“I doubt that, Roxas.”

“So you’re telling me that I’m _fucked up_ because I was stuck with the wrong parent?” Roxas asked, “is that it? Is that _really_ it? If I’m just as fucked up as you think, then mom must have been really fuckin’ good at keeping secrets. Or better yet, she must have been really good at being a lazy piece of shit.” Roxas looked over to Ventus, who suddenly gave him an angry look.

“I’ll allow you to talk shit about me, Rox, but not about our mom.” Ventus answered.

“She must have taught you guys to only follow people then, and not lead things on your own.”

“Roxas.” Cloud’s voice was a warning.

“No, I’m serious Cloud.” Roxas turned to his brother, “you and Ven- all you know how to do is follow people. You put yourselves second to anyone that you think is remotely important, and both of you are hella fucking scared of confrontation. It’s annoying! I doubt I’d want to be just as fucking soft as the two of you. In fact, I’m _glad_ I was stuck with dad. At least I’m the one in the family that has some fucking balls.”

“Fine. If you’re happy with that, then, so am I.”

“Like you’d fucking care.”

“Roxas, can we talk outside for a bit?” Roxas froze hearing Zack speak up. Unsure of what to do, Roxas slowly stood from his seat, following after Zack who moved rather quickly to leave the room. Once Zack let the door close behind them, he led them outside of the medical center. “You doing alright, bud?”

Roxas wanted to try his best not to sound too pissed off, but his instincts kicked in before his brain could, “what do you think?”

“I dunno, you tell me.” Zack stood with his arms crossed over his chest, but his eyes were quite focused on Roxas’. “You looked like you needed to get outta there.”

“I don’t know why Cloud would tell me that _my_ dad, the same guy that I lived with for 11 years was a horrible human being.” Roxas mumbled, “our mom… my mom- I don’t know her. I’ve literally never met her, but I’ve met the two kids that she watched over all those years.”

“Who are you to say that she didn’t do a great job taking care of them?” Zack asked, “I personally think she did a great job.”

“Why? Because they’re the ones that’re dating and happy or whatever?”

“No. Because they know how to control themselves.”

Roxas grumbled and groaned, wanting to roll his eyes, “so my dad did a bad job with me, because I don’t know how to control myself?”

“I didn’t say that,” Zack started, “I didn’t even bring up your dad yet.”

“Okay, so… what do you think then?”

“From what Spike ever bothered to tell me, everything he knew about your dad was from your mom. He wasn’t the best. He was abusive, manipulative and _angry_.” Zack explained, “they took a risk, leaving you with him.”

“Why _did_ they leave me with him?”

“He had won legal custody over you when they divorced.” Zack replied, giving a small sigh, “when your dad decided to move back to Nibelheim, it wasn’t for anything good. But your mom decided, since Spike was old enough, that you guys would stay in Radiant Garden.”

“Cloud’s barely any older than us though.”

“Would you rather leave a 14 year old in a house with little siblings, or leave a 11 year old in a house by himself?” Zack asked. Roxas took a moment to think about it, nodding once he figured out Zack’s point.

“Even then, Cloud still wasn’t that old…”

“Yeah, he wasn’t, but he could take care of the two of you.” Zack replied, “and believe it or not, his attitude having to do with him never knowing what to say had nothing to do with your mom. That was all him.”

“What?” Roxas raised an eyebrow, skeptical at the comment. “Are you sure about that?”

“Spike’s always been secretive. You’re more like your mom than you think. Sure, you never got to meet her, but hopefully one day, Spike’ll get over what he’s got for Nibelheim, and he’ll be willing to take you there.”

“What if I can get someone else to take me there?”

“Would you even know who you’re looking for?”

Roxas looked down to the ground, searching through his memories as his brain tried to process if he even knew what his mother looked like. Her name, anything that would lead him to her. After a moment of silence, Roxas sighed and shook his head, “they never told me anything about her. Nothing useful anyway.” He let out a groan, “what makes you think that I’m similar to her?”

“You fight until you can’t fight anymore.” Zack pointed out, giving the blonde a smile. “You speak your mind, even though you need to work on having at least a bit of a filter. She’s super kind, and apparently she makes a really mean stew.”

“S-stew?”

“Spikes’ words, not mine.” Zack shrugged, “he really likes her food, and I know he misses it.”

“So why doesn’t he- why doesn’t he just _go_? Why doesn’t he take us _home_?” Roxas asked, taking a few steps closer to Zack. Roxas had honestly never stood so close to Zack before, so he was quite shocked to see just how tall the man was next to him. Taller than Axel, that’s for sure.

“That’s for you to ask Spike, but, give him some time. He’s trying to do his best on his own. Spike really only ever knows how to keep things to himself, and he’ll go and stress about it. I try to help, but that’s just how he is.” Zack explained, “Spike is trying, alright?”

“You didn’t just take me out here to preach how much you love Cloud, right?” Roxas raised his eyebrows curiously.

“Nope, I wouldn’t do that.” Zack paused for a moment, “unless you’d want me t-”

“No way, nope. Nada. I don’t care.”

Zack let out a chuckle, “yeah, I figured as much.” He uncrossed his arms and placed a hand on Roxas’ shoulder, “you gotta calm down Rox. It’s okay to be angry, don’t get me wrong, but these aggression episodes of yours are only gonna get worse if you don’t know how to handle them.”

“But I _don’t_ know how to handle them.”

“Sometimes you gotta take a moment to think. Sometimes using your impulse decisions aren’t the best. You learn as you go on, but things happen. I wouldn’t blame you if you had outbursts every now and again, it’s something that you’re used to. Especially if your dad was like that around you, it’s pretty likely that you picked up some of his traits after seeing him do those things for so long.”

“What are your parents like, Zack?”

Zack averted his eyes, letting go of Roxas’ shoulder, “you wanna go back inside?” He asked after a moment of silence. Roxas was unsure of what to say or do after seeing Zack so quiet. The pieces slowly clicked together for Roxas as he watched the raven look back to the medical center.

“Sure, yeah. I guess I should talk to Cloud properly, huh.”

“I’m not sayin’ you need to apologize, but just _think_ , alright?”

“Thanks for taking me out here, by the way.” Roxas mumbled out, eyeing Zack, who gave him a grin in response.

“No problem kiddo.” Zack began to walk towards the building. “By the way... her name’s Claudia.”

It took a moment for Roxas to process what Zack meant, but then it clicked. _Claudia_. _Claudia Strife_. His _mother_. For the first time in his life, Roxas had finally learned his mother’s name, and it was all thanks to Zack. “... Claudia...” Roxas whispered to himself, feeling the name come from his mouth for the first time.

“You ready to go?” Zack asked, pointing his thumb to the building’s doors.

Roxas nodded, earning a smile from Zack as the raven led him back into the building, and back to Cloud’s room. The moment the door opened, they could hear the room go quiet. “You’re back.” Cloud stated the obvious.

“Yep!” Zack grinned, walking over to kiss Cloud on the cheek. “Everything alright in here?” Zack asked as he sat back in his original seat.

“Yeah, Ven was telling me about what’s been going on at your place though. Is everything alright there?”

Roxas slowly walked back to his seat, cautiously eyeing Ventus who had chosen not to look his way. Roxas figured it was probably for the best and decided he’d say something to Ventus later.

“Everything’s okay… ish. Terra’s been pretty good for the most part. He spends a lot of time with Ven, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be good.” Zack let out a chuckle, earning a similar chuckle from Ventus. “Xion’s also doing pretty good. She tries to ask me to help her with her homework, but you and I know that I’m super bad with focusing on homework. So that’s a no go.”

“You never were the best at turning in assignments.” Cloud pointed out, “you were more the type to say “wait, I actually _had_ to do that?” to the teacher.”

“After the fourth or fifth time, I swear that teacher was absolutely over it.” Zack let out a sigh, “why send me home with _work?_ Just let me do it in class!”

“It’s not like you did the class work either.” Cloud let out a quiet chuckle, “you always asked Leon or Lightning if you could copy from them.”

“Yeah, but they never _let_ me.”

“Probably because they wanted you to do your homework on your _own_?”

“What a waste of time. This is why I went to SOLDIER.”

“Yeah, where you have to write files and reports every time you finish a mission.” Cloud teased, “what an _upgrade_.”

“You actually dropped out of school to join SOLDIER?” Denzel spoke up.

“Yeah, I was about to graduate, but by that time I was already datin’ Spike and I was more than happy to move on. 18 and I was workin’ my way up the ranks.”

“Wait, so when did you meet Cloud?” Denzel asked.

“When I was 16. Spike’s 2 years younger than me.” Zack pointed a thumb at Cloud, “ _technically_ I started high school a little late.”

“By a little, you mean by a _year_.” Cloud added.

“ _Technically_ I should have been a year ahead of him, but we were in the same year and I never planned on finishin’ school.”

“That’s really something else.” Denzel sounded amazed at the situation. “Wow.”

“Were your parents okay with that?” Ventus asked next.

“Eh,” Zack shrugged, “they weren’t too big on the idea, but, they were supportive.”

“Zack?” Cloud turned to look at the raven, who stared at him in response. They sat like that for a strange duration of time, until Denzel cleared his throat to get their attention.

“What was that?” Denzel asked after Zack looked over to him.

“No idea.” Zack shrugged, staring at Cloud. “You alright Spike?”

“Yeah I just- I’ll ask you later.” Cloud shook his head.

“Yikes.” Ventus mumbled, “speaking of, we should get going. We’ve been here for a little while now, and I’m pretty sure Zack wants Cloud to himself for a bit.”

“Yeah, I’m ready for a good nap.” Denzel nodded.

“How did you guys manage to come up here? This place isn’t exactly the _closest_ to home.” Zack asked.

“Oh, we asked Axel to drop us off. He said he’d be nearby for when we were ready to go home.” Ventus answered. He glanced over to Roxas, “you mind letting him know we’re ready?”

“Yeah, sure.” Roxas reached in his pocket, sending a quick text to Axel before returning his phone back to its home.

“It was nice seeing the two of you,” Denzel smiled as he stood, “and now I realize just how gross couples can be.”

“We didn’t even _do_ anything.” Zack chuckled, “I’ll see you guys some other time. And hopefully Spike’ll be free from here by then.”

“I mean, if this means that Cloud’ll be on medication, I’d rather him be here.” Ventus spoke, standing from his spot. Roxas followed Ventus’ actions and slowly retreated to the door.

“Like I said, we’ll figure somethin’ out. But I can’t have Spike stayin’ here forever. I’m gonna be super bored and it’s gonna be terrible.” Zack practically whined.

“How convincing, Zack.” Cloud went to place his hand on Zack’s head, running his hands through Zack’s hair. “Wait- have you- did you cut your hair?”

“Oh! I did, just a little.” Zack put up two fingers to show just how little he meant, “like an inch or two. I used to run around with super short hair, but now I’m living with long hair? C’mon, you can’t expect me to wanna keep my hair long all the time.”

“Zack, please, I like your hair long. It suits you.”

“You used to say that short hair suited me.”

“Yeah but that was before I saw you with long hair.” Cloud replied quickly, grabbing at a piece of Zack’s hair, “seeing the process of you growing it was really nice too.”

“Well, lucky for you, I was only gonna trim it.”

“As long as I have something to grab onto, I guess.”

“Woah.” Ventus interrupted their conversation, “alright, I’m taking the _child_ away.” He reached for Denzel, who looked at him confused. “Yeah, remember that there are still _others_ inside the room? Remember that?”

Zack let out a hearty laugh while Cloud gave Ventus a small smile. “I don’t even know what that meant.” Denzel spoke up. “What’s he gonna grab onto? Zacks’ hair? For what?”

“Now you got him asking _questions_!” Ventus hissed. He looked down to Denzel who was completely confused by this point, “don’t worry about it. They’re just being bad adults.”

“Wrong,” Zack spoke. “We’re being _regular_ adults.”

“Kids. Are. In. The. _Area_.” Ventus warned signaling that he was watching the both of them before turning to his little brother. “Is Axel here yet?”

“He said he was about 10 or so minutes out, so, he should be here soon.” Roxas shrugged.

“Good, good.” Ventus nodded. “We should get going then.”

“Take care, you guys.” Cloud waved.

“Talk to ya soon!”

“Bye Cloud! Bye Zack!”

* * *

It was an uncontrollable habit for Ventus to want to spend all of his free time with Terra. Whenever they hung out, Ventus always felt that it was amazing to spend so much time alongside Terra. However, there were a few times where Ventus would have rathered Terra to focus on more than just his book. Of course, Terra’s career was important to Ventus, Ventus had no problems admitting that. But he wanted to be able to have moments to just he and Terra, and nothing to do with work or whatever else were going on in their lives. Just _them_ , together.

Ventus was always labeled as the quiet and tired Strife. He was second in the emotionally lacking department, with Cloud beating him by a mile, but he always considered himself to be much more stable than the other brothers mentally. Which he probably is, but that’s not something that needs to be said out loud. Ventus was for certain the most cautious out of the brothers. He didn’t want to make specific moves until he knew what the cause and effect would be to his actions.

Even though he may be emotionally lacking, he has a hell of a lot more compassion and understanding when it comes to helping others. Unlike his other siblings, Ventus’ ability to resonate with people emotionally and to be able to understand the situation they’re in was a lot more realistic when it came from him. The Strife family would usually look for Ventus when it came to reasonable feelings.

Though it may not seem like it, Ventus actually had a nice group of friends. His life, thankfully, didn’t just revolve around what Terra was doing. In fact, he was rather close to the female Terra, now named Tina, Tifa, Rinoa and another girl named Yuna. He had met Yuna by accident, but he and Yuna got along great from the moment they met. Strangely enough, some of Ventus’ male high school friends were confused as to why he wasn’t straight.

Honestly, Ventus couldn’t answer that even if he tried.

Ventus was fond of the people he was close to. He always liked having friends, and he always liked knowing that if he couldn’t talk to one person, there was always someone else out there to talk to him. Having Terra by his side felt like a bonus, where his social life could actually be maxed out all the time, instead of Ventus having to struggle to converse with someone like Cloud or Prompto. Strangely enough, even though Prompto is rather social, he never seemed to have many friends. Roxas has his little group, and Cloud doesn’t care too much to socialize with people.

Demyx… just who does Demyx hang out with?

Ventus could recall hearing Demyx mention a few times that he loved hearing what some of his friends would tell him. He loved talking to his friends, and he loved talking about his friends. But, from Ventus’ memory, he never recalled hearing Demyx call any of his friends by _name_. Aside from Axel, but that was because Reno was close to Cloud, so Reno would mention his little brother every now and again. The strangest thing that Ventus could remember Demyx saying was that he at one point was able to meet Axels’ uncle, even though Axel, Reno, nor Kairi was around. Apparently the Fujiwara household’s uncle was someone close or familiar with Demyx’ friend group.

Ventus furrowed his brows in deep thought, trying to recall if Demyx had ever really mentioned anything about specifics on any of his friends. Strangely, Ventus could only ever remember things about his friends, and not their names at all. It was strange, and it seemed quite unusual.

“Hey, Terra?” Ventus spoke after a moment, looking up to the brunette who was once again sitting at his computer. “I’ve got a question.”

“Shoot.” Terra spoke as he typed away at the keys, getting whatever he needed to get out down on the paper in front of him.

“How often do you talk to Demyx?”

“Like, never?”

“Do you know anything about the Fujiwara house?”

“Just as much as you.”

Ventus sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he let out a huff. Demyx is his cousin, and yet, at this moment, Demyx felt more mysterious than Cloud.

And that was saying something.

Ventus looked at Terra, “I say we go talk to Demyx.”

“You can.” Terra answered instantly.

“I don’t want to do this on my own though, Terra.” Ventus watched as Terra let out a sigh, turning to Ventus with his squeaky chair making all of the noise possible.

“Why do you need me to go with you to talk to Demyx?”

“What if I find out something that I don’t know, but _you_ do? What would I do then? It’s not like I have Cloud with me, who’s like an encyclopedia for all of the things going on around the world.”

“And you think I’m any better?”

“Maybe I should ask Zack to go with me.”

“Everyone asks Zack for things.” Terra let out a scoff, “he needs an assistant at this point to keep people on a schedule. I’m pretty sure his appointment book would be filled after a day or two.”

“Yeah, he just _understands_. Even if it has nothing to do with him, he _gets_ it.” Ventus shrugged. “He should be across the hall, right? In his room?”

“Either that or downstairs.” Terra shrugged, turning back to his computer. “Just don’t get distracted.”

“You’re not even worried that I’m gonna like, do something completely whimsical?” Ventus asked, standing from Terra’s bed. He gave his body a good stretch as he listened to Terra.

“I wouldn’t be shocked. Everyone falls for Zack at least once in their life.”

“He’s just the perfect guy, what can we say.” At that, Terra turned his head quickly to look at Ventus, a warning shown from his look. Ventus could only muster up a cheeky smile, “I’ll talk to you later. Because I’m definitely gonna go bother Zack and fall in love with him.”

“By all means,” Terra’s eyes began to squint, “don’t.”

“If you don’t stop me, who’s to say what I’m gonna do?”

“Unbelievable.”

With that, Ventus went to kiss Terra on the cheek. “Maybe you should hit up Aqua? You haven’t talked to her in awhile, right?”

“I told her I’ve been working on the book, and she understood if I didn’t send her a message. It’s not like she was just gonna throw everything down so that she could talk to me.”

“I’m pretty sure she still likes you, Terra.” Ventus smiled, placing his hands on Terra’s shoulders. “You guys are still friends, and Aqua isn’t the type of person to hold things like this against you.”

“Yeah, she’s not like Vanitas.” Terra shrugged, “I’ll talk to her later when I take a break.”

“Great!” Ventus let out a chuckle, “now, can I get a kiss before I go?”

Terra turned, letting Ventus lean in for a quick kiss. Ventus gave his boyfriend another smile as he went back to writing just like he was before. With a shake of the head, Ventus retreated from Terras’ room, making his destination to Zacks’ room. Shockingly enough, Ventus noticed the door to Zacks’ room open, and took the initiative to knock on the door, peeking into the room at the same time.

Zack was lounging on his bed, his back against the wall as he was scrolling through some things on his phone. After hearing the knock, Zack looked up to the door and instantly beamed one of his famous grins. “Heya Ven!”

“Hey Zack, how are you?” Ventus asked as he let himself into Zacks’ room.

“I’m alright. After visiting Spike yesterday, he said he wanted a day to just be by himself. So I really have no idea what to do today. Even Angeal’s busy.” Zack let out a sigh, locking his phone before he put it off to his side on the bed. “What’s up with you?”

“I uh, I’m pretty good too.” Ventus let out a chuckle, “and I guess that Cloud felt pretty overwhelmed with everyone there at one time.”

“Yeah, we all know Spike loves his space.”

Ventus nodded slowly, “yeah…”

“Somethin’ wrong?”

“I was wondering if you knew anything about Reno’s uncle? Like, a name or something?”

Zack raised an eyebrow, “why would I know something like that?”

“I don’t know- Shinra knows all these things, so I assumed that you probably would.” Ventus felt himself prepping for a ramble, but he felt it was best not to do that just yet. “Well- uh, I realized that Demyx knows their uncle, and it’s kinda weird to me that he _does_ but he doesn’t say names so-”

“Have you ever asked for a name?”

“I… haven’t.” Ventus shook his head, “I never really thought about it before. But I was thinking about it earlier and I realized that I have no idea who Demyx’s friends are.”

“So… you decide to come to me instead of ask him?”

Ventus let out a chuckle, “yeah, see this is where _you_ come in.” Ventus pointed at Zack, “I need _you_ to come with me so that I can talk to Demyx.”

“Why not just ask Terra?” Zack adjusted his spot on his bed, “I don’t see why I need to go with you.”

“Terra said he wasn’t gonna go.”

“Why do you need anyone to come with you anyways?”

“I’d feel better if someone was with me.”

“That’s…” Zack cleared his throat, glancing away for a split second, “that sounds like a horrible idea.” He shook his head, “maybe not _horrible_ , but unnecessary.”

“I mean, I’m perfectly fine with talking to Demyx on my own, but what if he’s involved with a super shitty group or something and I literally know nothing about them. Like- what if Demyx’ best friends were a gang and he was a part of some super shady deals and no one knows because no one asks him.”

“In this world, that’s pretty possible. Leave it to the person that seems like an open book. He probably knows a lot.” Zack shrugged, “I still don’t see why _I_ should go with you.”

“What if Demyx threatens to kidnap me.” Ventus frowned once he saw Zack let out a laugh, “I’m serious!”

“Where would he even bring you?”

“I don’t know! If he has a group with him they probably have a hide-out, right?!”

“Well, Ven…” Zack shook his head once more, “when you find out what’s going on with Demyx, let me know. I’m pretty sure he’s not involved in any shady deals, but if he is or if you _really_ feel like you need someone to help you out while you’re there… give me a call.”

“You’re not taking this serious at all!”

“Have you met me?”

Ventus let out a sigh, dropping his head. “I can’t call you if I’m dead.”

“You sure can’t.”

“Fine!” Ventus raised his head, “I’ll hold off on questioning Demyx then!”

“Why’s that?”

“I’ll ask him when Prompto is nearby. So if anything happens, Prompto can call the cops!”

“What if Prompto’s in on it too?”

Ventus let out a gasp, wide-eyed as he looked at Zack in horror. Zack let out another laugh, this time a lot more energized than the last. “That’s not funny! What if it’s true?!”

“This is _Demyx_ and _Prompto_ we’re talking about. I doubt they have an evil bone in their body. Sure they can be playfully devious, but so can I.” Zack explained, “you’re thinking too hard about something that probably isn’t even there.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Ventus placed his hands on his hips, “but if Demyx is actually involved in some shit that could be considered illegal, I’m _laughing_ in your face.”

“Sure, _if_ he is.”

Ventus sighed, walking closer to Zack, so that he could sit on the bed close to where Zacks’ legs were. “Alright, so, there was something else that I wanted to ask you.”

“Oh?”

“I know you were super okay yesterday when we were talking to Cloud and everything, but, Cloud also really likes beating around the bush about things that are pretty important. You know what I mean.” Ventus watched Zack nod, “how did you take it? Finding out that he has Geostigma?”

“What did Spike tell you?”

“That you were pretty serious about the whole thing.”

Zack made a noise, looking down to where his phone was, then over to his hand. “Yeah, when he told me, it took a bit to really process everything. I assume he told you who else knows?”

“Riku, right?”

“Yeah, and strangely enough, I remember when I had to help Spike with his first pass out session back at the church, Riku asked me about the Geostigma, the Mako Poisoning… Spike and Sephiroth. I didn’t put some of those pieces together at the time, since I was pretty focused on making sure that Spike was okay, but, now it makes sense. He was being discreet.”

“Wait, Cloud and Sephiroth?”

“Not about that part, as far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t have anything to do with Spike’s sickness.” Zack shook his head slowly, “I hope not, anyways.”

“You know what happened between them though, right?” Ventus pressed.

“I…” Zack looked up to Ventus, “I do.”

“Judging by that look, I’m guessing none of it is really _good_.”

“They never had a good relationship.” Zack answered quickly, “it’s not my story to tell though.”

“I had a feeling you were gonna say that.” Ventus let out a sigh, “I _know_ it’s not, but… Cloud’s my brother, y’know? I feel like that’s something that I need to know, believe it or not. Sephiroth is our family too, he’s our cousin. Cloud was always close with Sephiroth, but _I_ knew that there was something there that just wasn’t… _right_. If that makes any sense.” Ventus pointed out, “whenever Cloud went to spend time with Sephiroth and Riku, he’d come home looking horrible. I was always confused about it, but mom never- she never said anything.”

Zack had chosen to stay quiet, watching as Ventus continued, “mom would always say that Cloud and Sephiroth were spending time together, just to have fun. Since they were a bit closer in age, it was a good thing for him. I always took it as Cloud never wanting to spend time with me, but… once Sephiroth moved to Nibelheim with Riku, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo… Cloud wasn’t _mine_ anymore. He was 10, maybe? Maybe a little younger than that. But for years, Cloud just… He got worse.”

Ventus refused to let his eyes leave Zacks’ own as he continued, “I saw the signs. Shit, I feel like I even saw the point where he had gotten sick, and I never _knew_. I didn’t know what they did to him, but I just know that Cloud would always say that “Riku had nothing to do with it”, that was all. Riku was innocent, in all of it. Whatever _it_ was. I just- I just want to know. Did Cloud get sick like this when we were in Nibelheim? Do you know?”

“I do.” Zack answered simply.

“Can you tell me?” Ventus asked, seeing the pain in Zack’s look as he looked quite conflicted on what to tell the blonde. Ventus let out a huff, nodding slowly, “it’s not your story to tell, right.”

“Yeah.”

“Zack,” Ventus gave the raven a smile, “I love you.”

“Huh?” Zacks voice was filled with confusion, “what do you mean?”

“Not like- not like _that_.” Ventus clarified. “I love what you do for everyone. You really try your best to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable. Your _house_ is so peaceful and warming. It feels like the second home that some people really need. I honestly feel _safe_ being here, just even thinking that I’d be able to walk into your house, y’know?”

“Oh- I… I guess?”

“I love that you take care of Terra and Xion, even though they’re not full siblings, but you don’t care about that at all. I love how you take care of Noct, and honestly, he really needs it. He needs someone that’s as casual as you, but also someone that can just… someone that can be serious when he needs to. Noctis really thinks of you as a dad, y’know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I love what you do for Cloud too. He needs you. I’ve never seen Cloud so open with someone. I’ve never seen him rely on someone other than our mom, and shit… even then, there were so many things that he never told her. Even though Cloud talks to me, and I know he loves me and cares about me and all that jazz, it’s not _me_ he relies on. Whenever Cloud needs something done, he goes to _you_. It’s not the same as when he was with Leon. With Leon, he always felt like he needed to be better than what he was. Even though he and Leon understood each other, Cloud always felt like there were still things he _didn’t_ get.”

Zack could only nod, letting Ventus ramble more. “Leon was great to Cloud too. Mood wise, they were in sync. I can’t tell you if I honestly prefer you or Leon for Cloud, because you two are great for different reasons. Leon always had _money_ , and that was something that was always super off putting for Cloud. It’s not like we were poor, but we definitely weren’t blessed like Leon was.”

“Roxas feels the same way when it comes to Axel, I know it. Axel _made_ himself to where he is, a guy with a hell of a lot of money, and I respect that about him. But Roxas isn’t used to… he isn’t used to people treating him nicely. Roxas isn’t used to people spending a shit ton of money on him just because they _can_. Roxas and Cloud are both super selfless, and I respect that, honestly. They both seem like asses, but they really aren’t.”

“I think, you being there for Cloud helped him realize that he really _doesn’t_ have to handle everything on his own. It was always something that Tifa tried to get him to realize, but Cloud being who he is… he’s stubborn, but so are you. You did so much for him just by showing him what he could do in the moment. Were you ever really… focused on the future when it came to you and Cloud?”

“I knew that someday in the future I wanted to get married to him, but that’s about it.” Zack answered simply, “everything else about the future… I don’t really care about it, as long as I’m with Spike.”

“I’m so glad that… I’m glad we met you, Zack.”

“I’m glad I met you guys too. You guys are like little bursts of sunshine to light up my day.”

“How exactly did you get to meet Cloud, by the way?” Ventus asked, “I know it was in high school, but just like… how _did_ it happen?”

“You want the fake origin story, or the real one?” Zack gave Ventus a grin, “because I could use the same fake origin story that you tell everyone, if you wanna hear my version of that one?”

“Oh _please_ , that basically should have been how me and Terra started dating.”

“I mean, as magical as that sounds, you literally ran into him because you couldn’t figure out how to get to my room.”

“Okay, I didn’t _run_ into him. I _walked_ with great speeds and just so happened to walk into a person that looked almost exactly like you.”

“And you called him Zack for 10 minutes despite him saying that his name was Terra.”

“And when I realized he was correcting me, I felt pretty freakin’ bad, so yeah.”

“I think I prefer the real story over the makeshift one, it’s funnier.”

Ventus began to pout, “okay, but- I try to get creative with our romance story alright? But what about you? How’d you start dating Cloud?”

“In that first year, Spike and I got to know each other by chance. We had a few classes together and I usually chose the seats that were close to him. At the time I wasn’t thinking about it, I was with Aerith, and where Aerith sat, I sat.”

“Right, you dated Aerith for a bit.”

“Yep, back when I was still doing little missions for SOLDIER before I got the full acceptance, I fell through the roof of a church in the Slums of Midgar and met her there. Found out she lived _here_ and we just kinda… hit it off. It was great.”

“I don’t want you thinking about your ex at a time like this.”

“Nah, it’s alright. Spike knows I still love Aerith, but the feeling towards her now is a little different.” Zack explained, “it’s not romantically.”

“If it’s fine with Cloud then…” Ventus raised an eyebrow, “but anyways?”

“I actually met Leon and Lightning before I met Spike. Found out that they were pretty close with him because he fit their criteria, basically. They’re pretty much a trio of similar personalities.” Zack let out a chuckle, looking up to the ceiling, “but I got the closest to Lightning. Or, at least I _think_ I did. I feel like I probably annoyed her as much as Snow did, but she never really pushed me away like she did to Snow. She liked being alone, and I respected that part.”

“Lightning seems like a great person too, I barely know her.”

“Oh yeah, she’s great.” Zack nodded, “after I got to know Lightning though, it was probably about 3 or so months into the semester and I found out that Spike was pretty much in the middle of his relationship with Leon. Aerith told me that she would rather be friends, and with her explanation, it made sense. She wanted to explore, and so did _I_. Every now and again I’d get the time to talk to Spike, but it wasn’t really anything that was beneficial to our relationship. It was when things started to get difficult for him outside of school that I was able to really hear anything about it. I got to talk to Spike more because he felt that Leon wouldn’t… _get_ it. He wouldn’t understand the problems.”

“Did he?”

“I don’t know, Spike never talked to Leon about it.” Zack shrugged, “I’d be shocked if he did, after all this time.”

“When things started to get difficult though? Could that have been when Sephiroth moved back to Radiant Garden? I remember Cloud being super in the dumps when that happened, but he tried not to express it too much to Rox and I.”

“Probably.”

“I see.”

“Not too long after that though, Spike broke up with Leon. He was still super in the dumps about everything, but he told me that it felt like one bit of stress was lifted off his shoulders. He felt a bit more free than he usually would, and he liked it. Next thing I knew, we were pretty close to each other. We’d talk all the time. One thing led to the next, we hooked up, and before I dropped outta school to join SOLDIER full-time, we started to date.”

“Was that hard? I know Cloud would get pretty stressed out sometimes when he didn’t hear from you for days or weeks.”

“Yeah, it was pretty hard. I felt bad for a long time, but we got into a system that worked for us after a while. It honestly sucks, you can really only talk, being that far away all the time.”

“But then Cloud joined SOLDIER too, right?”

“Yep.”

“And now everything’s okay?”

“Something like that, sure.” Zack let out a chuckle, “by the way, Ven?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks buddy. I know what I do for everyone, and I’m glad that everyone feels that this is the safest place for them to be. I’m glad people look up to me, and honestly, I’m glad I get to take care of Noct. All of you are so important to me, so… thank you.”

“Any time, Zack. You’re great.”

“Would you even go as far as to say that I’m a hero?”

“Don’t push it, Zack.”


	12. My Friends, My Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So sorry I got to this as late as I did! But it's the final chapter of the first arc! It's just a litttllee longer than the others, and I worked on this one with a close friend of mine (she's the writer for a fanfic that I'm re-writing for her) and we've both been really busy. 
> 
> I've graduated well, and I'll be moving to Japan soon to study art, so things are a little cluttered for me. The next chapter to start the next arc should be uploaded sometime early next month, so please look out for it!
> 
> Thank you for those who've stayed to read this long!

Everything happens for a reason.

That’s what _they_ say anyways.

Zack may not have been very happy about the turn of events, but he sure was grateful for it. It didn’t take long for Ventus to get back to him about the whole “Demyx may be evil” thing, but Ventus sure did earn himself a good laugh. Well...

 _Demyx_ may not be evil, but he definitely hangs around some shady people.

Zack made sure to make a personal reminder to talk to Demyx, something that he hadn’t really done much before. But since Cloud isn’t particularly around to do anything about the kid,  _someone_ had to be.

It just so happened that Demyx seemed to know someone very important.

Zack hadn’t assumed this before, neither did he actually know who the Fujiwara family was closely related to. His closest friend in the family is Reno, and it’s not like they talk _too_ much, but they have an understanding relationship with one another. The moment Ventus gave Zack the name of their uncle, everything began to fall into place.

Zack quickly made a phone call to Luna to check up on her. It didn’t take long for her to actually answer, but Zack definitely picked up that she sounded a little different from what she normally would.

“Luna, is everything alright?” Zack finally decided to ask in the middle of their conversation.

“ _I’m okay, I’ve just been thinking about how to talk to Noctis._ ”

“What do you mean?”

“ _I feel that I should come and visit, to talk with you and Noctis about everything. This is a lot to talk about on the phone, and... Namine..._ ”

Zack could hear Luna sigh on her end, “it’s fine if you come over. I’ll get Noctis and all that good stuff. Let either one of us know when you’re outside.”

“ _Okay._ ”

The line went dead and Zack set his sights on going to talk to Noctis before Luna could make her way over. As he stood in front of the Noctis’ bedroom door, he could hear Umbra bark from inside the room leading Noctis to let out a loud groan and move about. Zack let out a chuckle the moment Noctis opened the door, shocked to see the raven standing in front of him. “Zack?”

“Rise and shine, sunshine.”

“I’m _awake_. Just tired. I was about to take a nap.”

“Well, that sucks, you’re not gonna get that nap. I need you to come with me to go downstairs.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s important, trust me.”

Noctis raised his eyebrow as he moved to follow Zack out of his room and down the stairs to the living room. He sat on the couch with Umbra close on his lap, while Zack sat on the couch across from him. They sat in a strained silence until Noctis received a phone call from Luna asking for him to open the door. Noctis quickly followed the direction and gave a curious look to the blonde as she took off her shoes and rushed into the living room, Noctis and Umbra close behind.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Noctis spoke up.

Zack glanced over to Luna, then back up to Noctis, watching as the other raven sat at the edge of the couch, giving a space in between he and Luna, where Umbra decided to sit. “Do you want to explain things from your side first? Or should I?”

“I have a feeling yours will be a lot less... troublesome.” Luna spoke.

“What?” Noctis asked.

“Okay,” Zack nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his neck to pick and choose his words carefully. “Well... I found out earlier that Ardyn, the guy that took your ring, is actually the uncle of the Fujiwara kids.”

“The- Axel, Kairi, and Reno?” Noctis went to confirm.

Zack nodded slowly, “and Demyx is apparently _pretty_ close to the guy, somehow. But that also means, the reason why Ardyn knew where to find you... from you moving here, to him finding you at the beach-”

“He talked to Xion too.”

“-wait, what? When did he do that?”

“I believe that was when he went to visit Aerith,” Luna spoke, shaking her head slowly.

“Axel was the one that took Xion and I there.”

“I really, _really_ don’t want to think that Axel’s doing some double-agent stuff.” Zack groaned, “but, if he is...”

“I want to trust him too. I want to trust them all.” Noctis went to rub Umbra’s head, “I really don’t want to think that Dem, Ax or Kai are selling me out to this guy. Whatever’s going on, he has no problems hunting me down in the plain of day. And- he still has the ring.” Noctis looked cautiously over to Luna, who nodded in response. “I don’t know, I really-”

“There’s a good chance that they could be giving info, and there’s a good chance that they aren’t. Asking them would probably make them hide it, but... leave that part to me, okay Noct? I’ll get to the bottom of it.” Zack placed a hand on his chest.

Noctis nodded, “and what about you, Luna?”

“I have to leave.” Luna stated, looking over to Noctis with a stern stare.

“What? You just got here though.” Noctis spoke oblivious to the tone.

“No-” Luna shook her head, “I have to leave _here_. Radiant Garden. I need to go back to Tenebrae.”

“Why do you need to do that?”

Luna gave Noctis a small smile, digging into one of her pockets, “hold out your hand, Noctis.” She spoke clearly, waiting for Noctis to do as he was told before pulling her hand out of her pocket. She placed her hand on Noctis’, dropping a small item onto his palm.

Quickly, Noctis pulled back his hand, staring at the item. “The- how did you get it back?”

“I made a promise.”

“Another promise? To who?”

“This way, I can take care of you, and my family.”

“Luna- no.” Noctis let his hand form into a ball, “you’re not going to leave just so that you can protect me. I don’t- I don’t _want_ you to leave.”

“I don’t want to leave either, but I _have_ to, Noctis.”

“Then- how are we... how are you...” Noctis dropped the ring somewhere in the time of him rushing to reach and grab onto Luna. “Then what are we going to do?”

“Is it going to be so bad for us to be long distance, Noctis?” Luna asked, placing her hands onto Noctis’ once more. “I’d think you’d be more comfortable with it, writing and being distant was your thing.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not going to _miss_ you. I’m going to miss seeing you here- having you with me. You only just recently started spending more time over here too... I’m going to miss that, and I don’t _want_ to miss that. Not when I know that you can be right here with me all the time.”

Zack slowly stood from his seat, signaling to Umbra that he should give the two of them some space. Umbra quickly followed Zack’s lead and trailed the man into the kitchen, where he was given a treat. Zack took notice of the small but familiar ring soon to be entangled with Umbra’s collar, and decided to free the dog and the ring from one another. Pocketing the ring for safekeeping until Noctis and Luna’s conversation finished.

“Did you think I wasn’t going to miss you?” Luna asked again, “I’ll miss you more than you will ever know. But Noctis, you need to understand, this wasn’t just for you and I. I made this choice for Ardyn, for Stella, Ravus, Namine-”

“Why the hell would you make a choice for Ardyn?” Noctis asked, pulling his hands back, “and now that I think about it, how _did_ you get the ring?”

“Ardyn is the Grand Chancellor in my family. I don’t have much of a choice, even if I didn’t want to talk to him, he’d find a way to me.”

“So you were working with him too?”

“I was, but for a different reason.”

“D-did...” Noctis couldn’t stop shaking his head, feeling the anger bubble, “were _you_ the one that sold me out?”

“Noctis- I would never do something like that.”

“Luna, I tell you _everything_.” Noctis’ eyes were filled with a resolve, “ _everything_ . I trust you, or, I _did_ anyway. How the hell would I know if you haven’t been the double-agent turning everything against me?”

“I’m _telling_ you, Noctis. I wouldn’t do anything like that. I wouldn’t tell Ardyn anything important. Especially not something that brings you and I together.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe that?”

“Yes.”

Noctis let out a chuckle, one that soon went into a full on fit of laughter. Luna was taken aback by the sudden bout of laughter that erupted in her face. Luna turned to Zack, who gave her a concerned look and a shrug.

“Are you-” Noctis tried to speak in between the laughs, “-shitting... me?”

“I’m not kidding, Noctis.”

“I thought I could trust you.”

“Why are you ignoring what I’m telling you?”

“I’m not. I hear you, loud and clear. I don’t _want_ to, but I don’t have a choice.”

“Noctis-”

“Luna, I don’t think I want to hear anymore about this.”

“Noct, I think you should probably listen.” Zack spoke up. “Luna never sold you out, and she honestly never would.”

“I may have been working with Ardyn, but it was for the future of Tenebrae. My cooperation with Ardyn had nothing to do with involving you. It wasn’t until recently that Ardyn had no choice but to take an interest in you. That was because his boss... he wanted the last symbol of power that the Lucians had, which was your ring. I’m not sure about Axel, Demyx, or Kairi, but I know that _I_ never told Ardyn anything valuable. I refused to.” Luna watched as Noctis looked down to his lap. She could tell that he was starting to feel bad.

“The only reason why I had to cooperate with him was to get your ring back. That’s all I wanted to do, and that’s all I did for you. I did it because I love you, and I would never want _anyone_ to try and take something so important away from you. So, in return for getting your ring back, I have no choice but to go with them back to Tenebrae. That was my part of the promise. If I leave with them and promise not to marry you, they’ll move, and they promised they’d never come to hurt any of our friends.”

“You’re not allowed to marry me?”

“I can’t, as much as I want to, I can’t.”

“You _want_ to marry me?”

“Of course.”

“Luna...”

“I’m not able to do it now, but a girl can dream.”

“I really... I don’t want you to leave, Luna. What about Namine, Stella, and Ravus? Are they leaving too?”

“I didn’t want to, but... I have to take Namine with me. I haven’t been able to find another place for her to stay so I have no choice.”

“Did you check with Gladio and Ignis?”

“ _Iris_ was more happy about the idea than Gladio and Ignis were. But they weren’t too sure on their current placement.”

“Right, Namine would have to share an apartment room with Iris, it’d get pretty crowded.” Zack nodded slowly. “She _can_ stay with me y’know, that option’s still open. Xion would love to have her friend here.”

“I can’t bring myself to do that to you, Zack. You already offered to keep Pryna with you, for Umbra’s sake, and now Namine? I _can’t_. I’d feel too terrible if I let either of them stay with you for an indefinite amount of time.”

“Yeah, but Namine has school. School just started and she’s so excited to be able to graduate with her friends, you can’t take that away from her.” Zack insisted, leaving the kitchen so that he could look at Luna properly. “Let her stay here for the rest of the school year, and then she’ll be off to college and you won’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“But-”

Noctis placed a hand on Luna’s shoulder, catching her attention, “she’ll be with us. She’ll have me, Zack, Terra, _and_ Xion. And Xion won’t complain about there being too much male testosterone in the house anymore because she’ll have a friend with her. We still have the guest room upstairs, and she can move her things in there. Whatever she doesn’t take with her, we’ll send it back to you.”

“ _If_ Namine is okay with this, then I will be too. I trust the two of you with my little sister.” Luna gave a soft smile, placing her hand once again on Noctis’ own, rubbing it with her thumb. “I feel bad for doing this though, leaving her with you guys.”

“Wouldn’t you feel worse for taking Namine away from her friends? Not letting her finish her last year in high school with the people she loves?” Zack asked, placing his hands on his hips. He earned an affirmative bark from Umbra, as the dog ran to lick Luna’s free hand.

“I guess I would. Namine wouldn’t be too happy with me.” Luna agreed, “okay. I’ll talk to Namine and I’ll make sure to keep you guys updated. I have to leave this week though, so Namine would be moving in quite soon.”

“Leave it to us!” Zack grinned, pointing his thumb to his chest, “we’ll take care of her!”

* * *

Or, that’s what Zack _thought_ anyway.

How could two girls cause so much destruction in a house in just a few hours?

Zack could feel his eye twitch as he stood at the front door, grocery bags in his hands and his shoes in the middle of coming off his feet. A smile was on his face prior to seeing the mess and it hadn’t been able to wipe away with the rest of his happiness. Zack recalled seeing Umbra whimper as he walked past Zack, sparkles, glitter, and a _very_ bright shade of pink coating his fur. That was when Zack noticed the rest of the mess.

The dining room had bags upon bags of clothes thrown about, and behind the chair closest to the kitchen there was a large puddle of some sort of liquid. Zack slowly placed the bags to the ground by his shoes, and took a moment to look into the living room, his heart dropping.

Boxes.

 _So many boxes_.

It’s not like Namine had just moved into the house, all of her things were placed inside the guest room on the top floor a few days ago. Zack however, made sure that Namine’s room was nice and neat, which she appreciated. So... where the hell did all of these boxes come from? Slowly, Zack walked towards the boxes, Umbra close behind him, still looking sad and stressed out by his fur.

“What the hell?” Zack asked himself as he looked at the very top box. That box was actually open, clear enough for him to see the content inside. Ferrets. _Ferrets_. In _Zack’s_ home? The last Zack checked, neither the Nox Fleuret family or the Fair family had _ferrets_ in their homes. Picking up the box, careful to make sure he didn’t startle the animals inside, Zack went to check the next box. _Glitter_. The same colored glitter as what was thrown on Umbra. Sighing, Zack looked off to the side where a third box lay, and decided to look into it as well. Though, he was confident he didn’t need to look too hard, as most of the contents was already spilling out. Bright pink paint. _Paint. Bright pink. Paint._

Finally having enough of the _mess_ in his house, Zack yelled for whomever was in the household to come and meet him in the living room. Slowly, one by one, everyone came down the steps. Terra and Ventus were completely alarmed and confused by what was happening, while Noctis ran straight to Umbra to try and help the dog. Xion and Namine looked nervously at each other as they stood by the stairs.

“Uh... Zack? What... what happened down here?” Ventus decided to ask.

“I was gone for three hours guys. Three. Hours.” Zack stated, holding up three fingers to prove his point. “What the _fuck_ happened in three hours?”

“Okay, who made Zack mad?” Terra asked, looking over to Noctis, then over to the girls.

“Don’t look at me, I was asleep when Zack left.” Noctis stated, causing all the eyes to fall on Namine and Xion. “Don’t tell me-”

“I don’t want to be angry.” Zack interrupted, “I _really_ don’t. So all I’m going to say is, I don’t know what happened, and I honestly _don’t_ want to know what happened right now. Clean up this mess. I don’t care if you have to call in your friends, but _you two_ ,” Zack pointed to Namine and Xion who lowered their heads in response, “are cleaning up _this_ mess. And you’re getting those ferrets out of my house.”

“You brought _ferrets_ into the house?” Terra asked, raising his voice in shock and disappointment as Xion looked off to the side. “You _know_ we don’t mess with ferrets here.”

“I know.” Xion replied quietly. “We’ll clean up the mess.”

“Why would you think it’s okay to leave my living room- my... my _dining room_ looking like this, Xion? You know the house rules more than Namine does, and you usually never do this.” Zack placed his hands on his hips, “are you okay?”

“No way, Zack.” Terra spoke up before Xion could, “don’t be the good cop right now. Stern dad Zack should be here and he should stay until this mess is cleaned up.”

“I said I’ll clean up the mess!” Xion yelled, “jeez!”

“Xion, I’ll help you.” Namine spoke up, she then looked up to Zack, “I’m so sorry that this happened and I only just recently moved in.” She started her apology, “we went upstairs and started cleaning up Xion’s room so that we could move the stuff.”

“And that included a box of _paint_ that’s seeping through the cardboard?” Zack asked, pointing a thumb towards the seemingly melting box. “Or the box of _glitter_?” Zack’s tone became sharp, “or the goddamn ferrets?” Zack went to look to Xion, “why in the hell would you bring those in here anyways?”

“We saved them from being thrown away.”

“Okay, so you could have asked Terra or I, or called someone to help you take _those_ ferrets to a rescue. Someone would have helped you.” Zack stated, “so why does my dog look like he was thrown into a pink tornado?”

“I accidentally got some paint on him.”

“Who in the right mind told you that transporting paint in a cardboard box was a good idea?” Noctis spoke up, standing while dusting off his clothes from the glitter. “How did you guys even get this stuff _in_ the house?”

“We just carried it in.” Xion shrugged. “Look, you can stop asking questions and just go do something else. Namine and I are gonna take care of it.”

Ventus gave Xion a strange look, then glanced back up to Terra, who shook his head in response. Terra grabbed Ventus’ hand and brought him back upstairs. Noctis let out a sigh and glanced over to Zack, “wanna help me wash off Umbra?”

“Yeah, let’s take him out back.” Zack nodded. “Let me go change into something expendable.” Zack let out a groan.

“Didn’t you get groceries?” Noctis asked, “did you already put them away?”

“No, they’re at the front door.” Zack pointed to the door, “I’m afraid to even go into the kitchen, honestly.”

“That’s fair. I guess I’ll take care of it later.”

“What? _You’re_ offering to do a job?” Zack asked, “that’s a first. Having Luna leave must’ve really made you feel bothered.”

“No, seeing _you_ angry made me feel bothered.” Noctis mumbled, “c’mon, lets go clean Umbra.” Zack nodded, quickly running upstairs to go and change his clothes quickly. He quickly ran back down the steps, nearly running into Namine who was in the middle of moving the box of ferrets away from the paint. Noctis could tell that Zack was holding in his irritation from the whole ordeal, and moved to the front door to catch Zack’s attention again.

“Poor Umbra.” Zack mumbled to himself as the trio was now outside, walking around to the back of the house in order to clean Umbra properly. “Alright Noct,” Zack started, “I’m gonna turn on the hose, you get Umbra’s collar off of him.” Noctis nodded, doing what he was told as Zack went to go grab the hose and turn on the pipe, letting the water run for a bit.

“Alright Umbra, don’t run away, okay?”

“We should probably fence him in.” Zack let out a chuckle, watching as Umbra kept his eyes on the water. “Then again, I’m pretty sure he’s not gonna run too far away from you.”

“That’s also true.” Noctis nodded, “c’mon boy, let’s get you cleaned up.” Umbra waited for Noctis to move closer to the water before he chose to do so himself. Watching as Zack slowly went to drop the water on him.

“So, while we’re doing this...” Zack started, “how are you and Luna now?”

Noctis glanced up to Zack, then let out a subtle sigh. “We actually... broke up. It might be better if we’re just friends. Just in case... I don’t know. I feel like I’d be holding her back.”

“I don’t think so. If she wants to be with you, and wants to marry you, she’s likely to really only want you.” Zack shrugged, “unless it’s _you_ that doesn’t know what you want.”

“I know what I want. I _want_ to be with Luna, but, not if she has to hold back a part of our relationship, you know?”

“Some relationships are difficult. If you can stand through the tough times, you can stand through the easy times.” Zack leaned forward to rub Umbra’s face, brushing out the sparkles from his eyebrows. “A lot of work goes into relationships, and yours is pretty difficult on it’s own, but that’s okay, honestly. You’re still young. I mean- even _I_ don’t have my relationship figured out.”

“Isn’t... wait a second, is Luna older than you?” Noctis looked up, using the water to rub down Umbra’s body. “She turned 24 this year.”

“Yeah, I turn 24 _next_ year.”

“By the way, when is your birthday?”

“Oh- I never told you? It’s-” Zack paused once he heard his phone ring, and giving an apologetic smile to the other raven, he went into his pocket to answer his phone. “Y’ello?”

“ _Hey Zack, I was wondering if you could help me for a second?”_

“Oh,” Zack quickly checked the caller ID before placing the hose onto the ground, “what’s up?”

_“They’re letting me out of the hospital today, and apparently Lazard told them to give me medicine. So now I have about... two months worth of medicine and no real way of getting home.”_

“Yeah, okay. I’ll come pick you up Spike.” Zack gave a grin, “give me a bit, okay? I’ll be there in a half hour or so.”

_“Sure.”_

With that, the line went dead. Zack turned back to Noctis and gave him a goofy smile, “d’ya mind taking care of Umbra? I’ll be back in like an hour... maybe.”

“I’m guessing that was Cloud?”

“Duty calls.”

“If duty includes finally having sex with him again now that he’s healthier, then _sure_.”

“That’s not what I was going for!”

“Go take care of your man.”

“You know what- Spike can wait. Let’s clean off Umbra and we’ll go get him together!”

“If that makes you feel better.”

* * *

“Okay, so maybe the paint in a box was a bad idea, but we didn’t have anything metal to carry it in.” Xion groaned, staring at the box that was practically melting in the liquid. “And, Roxas lied to me.”

“Is Roxas the one that told you that would be a smart idea?”

“Of course he was.”

Namine raised an eyebrow, “to be fair... sometimes Roxas does... lie. So that he can make fun of us later for believing him.”

“I gotta stop listening to that guy.” Xion let out a sigh, “okay, box of paint first. Then we’ll take care of the stuff in the dining room.”

“What’s the deal with Zack and ferrets? I didn’t think he’d hate them _that_ much.” Namine asked as she looked at the box of ferrets in front of her. With a soft smile she went to pet a few of them as they ran around. “Did something happen?”

“I don’t know. I just know that Zack’s number one rule is to never bring ferrets into the house. He always said that they’d just take things and hide them and cause trouble. I thought he was just biased, but apparently Terra knows.” Xion shrugged, “I’m gonna get the trash bags out of the kitchen, the really big heavy duty ones. Give me a second.”

“‘Kay.”

As Xion disappeared into the kitchen, Namine opted to stay near the ferrets, keeping them company while she waited. That was when Namine glanced over to where the paint was, suddenly _very_ glad that Zack chose to stay with plain hardwood floors. The only rug on the first floor being the one by the front door. She felt herself smile just a bit at the thought, when questions started to arise. “Hey- Xion?”

“Yep?” Namine heard her respond from the kitchen, a few shuffling sounds here and there.

“A lot of people really like Zack, huh?”

“Yeah, he’s like everyone’s personal hero or something.” She could hear Xion scoff, “people love talking about him even when he’s nowhere nearby.” Namine watched as Xion came back with a giant trash bag and a mop with a bucket attached. Namine stood and reached for the mop and bucket, which Xion handed off to her. “Don’t get me wrong, Zack’s pretty much my hero too.”

“Depending on the person, I’d assume that people would either find him really annoying or really sociable.”

“Yeah, Zack said there’s a few people in Shinra that find him a little too... _energetic_. But it’s his charm and they know better than to try and take away his joy. Breaking Zack would be like hurting a dog, honestly.”

“So why did you want to do this?” Namine placed the mop against the box filled with ferrets, “why did you want to upset him like you did? When you told me about your plan, I knew this wasn’t going to be the best idea...”

“I don’t know, Namine.”

“Did you want Zack to send me back to Luna?”

“What?” Xion turned quickly to look at her blonde friend, “god no! I _want_ you here! You’re like- you’re my best friend!”

“So then... why would you do something that would make Zack so angry with us? There had to be something, right? This paint... it’s not animal friendly and we got it on Umbra. The ferrets, you knew Zack didn’t like them. All of the clothes on the dining room table... What was the point of all of this?”

“It was fun while we did it but now that it actually happened, I think my rating as Zack’s favorite definitely dropped.” Xion let out a sigh, “c’mon, help me take care of this box as painlessly as possible.”

“What about the glitter?”

“We’re throwing that away too.”

After what felt like forever spent cleaning, the two girls lounged around on the couches sighing at how clean the place was. The only thing left to take care of was the ferrets, and Xion told Namine a little while back that she wasn’t going to ask Zack to drive her anywhere any time soon. The pair stayed on the couches, watching TV while Xion tried to figure out what to do next.

That was when Terra and Ventus once again made their way down the steps. Xion turned to look at her brother with a tired expression. “You’re back.”

“And you’re dumb.” Xion made a noise to Terras’ response. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Jeez, can everyone stop asking me that? Maybe it was a prank, maybe I just wanted to upset Zack, maybe I wanted to actually see him angry for once. I don’t _know_. I just _did_ it.”

“And you dragged Namine down with you.” Terra stated, placing his hand on Ventus’ back. “Go ahead to the kitchen, I’ll help you figure out what to eat in a bit.” Ventus nodded and went to the kitchen without a word. Terra then fully turned his attention to Xion, walking closer to her. “Wanna preach about how good you are? Or are you going on a rebellious streak?”

“ _Haha_.” Xion let out a sarcastic laugh, “yeah, Vanitas is my new inspiration. I want to be _just_ like him.”

“Go down that road and Zack’ll never let you back in this house.”

“When I graduate, I won’t need to come back.”

“You think you’ll be okay on your own?” Terra’s voice was more curious than judgmental.

“Confident.”

“I have more confidence in Prompto marrying a _rock_ than you being able to live on your own. Especially not after _this_ move.”

“Can you just- can’t you just _drop_ it? Get over it. I cleaned up the mess with Namine. All I have to do now is take care of the dumb ferrets and everything’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, alright. You do what you gotta do, I guess.”

“Can you take me to a shelter or something? So that I can get rid of them?”

“Zack has the car and honestly... I _don’t_ want to drive right now.”

Xion jumped up from her spot, “when did Zack take the car?!”

“Like, two hours ago? I guess he never told you. He took Noct and Umbra with him to go get Cloud.”

“Cloud was let out of the hospital?” Namine decided to ask.

“Yep.” Terra nodded, “you must have really made Zack mad for him to not say anything to you about it.” Terra placed his hands on his hips. “So, you can either call Zack and ask him to help you, or call someone else to take you.”

“You’re _no_ help, Terra.”

“I helped you just now, didn’t I? Not my fault you’re a problem child.”

“I hope Vanitas gets Ventus back.” Xion grumbled, earning a glare from her brother. “Dare me to say it again? Because you know I will. Vanitas should have won but you’re too pushy.”

“I’m pushy? Xion, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Your relationship is built off of lies.”

“ _Xion_.” Terra’s voice was filled with warnings. “Watch it.”

“I know, and Zack knows. And I’m pretty damn sure that Ven knows too, but he just doesn’t want to say anything.”

“I think I chose not to say anything because it had nothing to do with you, Xion.” Ventus spoke, “I don’t know why you think it’s okay to start trying to rile up everyone in the house, but this isn’t the best way to get whatever point you’re trying to get off your chest.”

“I don’t have anything to get off my chest.” Xiom muttered, glancing back to the TV. “Whatever, I’ll ask Riku or someone to help me.”

“Sure.” Terra shrugged, “c’mon Ven, let’s get you something to eat.”

* * *

Noctis wasn’t too fond of being stuck with a lovey-dovey couple like Zack and Cloud, but at the same time, it helped him see some similarities between he and Cloud that he hadn’t gotten the chance to see before. Noctis recalled Zack mentioning it to him a few times, that the laziness or the half-kept promises due to either of them never really wanting to do any serious work were strikingly similar. The fact that Cloud was quiet through most of the ride from the hospital, even though Zack made it seem like Cloud was a social being, but it was really just Zack rambling and Cloud nodding every now and again with the occasional snarky comment.

In a way, Noctis could feel himself thinking about how he and Prompto were, how in this case he’d be like Cloud, and Prompto was for certain pretty similar to Zack, albeit, not as charming. In between a few of Zack’s rambles, he’d bring the conversation back to Noctis, even when Noctis wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to the topic, Noctis would give the raven an awkward chuckle and agree without any real thought. After the third or fourth time, Noctis heard Cloud reprimand him playfully for constantly agreeing without thinking about the consequences. That was when Zack complained that Cloud usually did the same thing.

Close to the end of the drive, Umbra, who had been quiet throughout the road trip, started to make noises, mostly due to needing to use the bathroom. Noctis had offered to take Umbra with him and go for a walk somewhere since they were quite close to the neighborhood now. Cautiously and unwillingly, Zack parked on the side of the road to let Noctis and Umbra out of the car, driving off and insisting that the younger raven stayed safe.

Noctis, now free from the car, went to walk Umbra close to the usual route that Umbra was familiar with. Umbra began running freely, peeing wherever he could while ignoring Noctis’ instructions to be careful. He did however look back a few times to make sure Noctis was still following him. Not too long into their walk, Noctis watched as Umbra ran into a nearby park, more so a garden fitting of the name _radiant_ , the icon for Radiant Garden’s existence. But, Umbra’s focus was on a pink haired girl and a man with silver hair, one that he recognized almost instantly.

Noctis figured it was best to pick up the pace as Umbra was already jumping up and barking happily at the duo in front of him. “Serah! Riku!” Noctis called out to the two as they greeted the dog.

“Hey there Noctis!” Serah waved the moment she was free from Umbra’s grasp. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.” Noctis shrugged.

“How are you holding up after Luna leaving?” Riku asked, bending down to get a few face licks from Umbra.

“It’s... a little rough but, she and I aren’t together anymore. We’re just going to stay friends for now.”

Serah gave Noctis a shocked expression, then reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, “I didn’t know that she left! That must have been what Namine was talking about- I’m so sorry to hear that!”

“Don’t worry about it Serah, Luna didn’t want there to be a whole fiasco or anything about it. I’m shocked that Riku even knows, honestly.”

“Xion.”

“Ah.”

“Speaking of Xion,” Riku went to stand, “is everything okay with her? Ever since Namine moved in with you guys, Xion’s been really... off.”

“Yeah?”

“Like, a lot of the things that she’s doing now is impulsive, and half the time I don’t think she really has a purpose for some of her actions. She’s been getting really angry with Sora and Roxas, which is a shocker because she literally never yells at Roxas.” Riku explained, “so... I’m curious.”

“Did you have anything to do with her bringing in paint and glitter into the house?” Noctis decided to ask, “she got it on Umbra, so he got a special bath today.” Umbra barked in response.

“Uh, no.” Riku shook his head and raised his eyebrow, “I do remember hearing her say something about wanting to paint her room? She said something about wanting to try and paint it pink, but she wasn’t too sure. It felt too girly.”

“ _Xion_ and _pink_?” Noctis’ voice was filled with confusion, “that doesn’t sound right.”

“I remember Xion asking me about glitter!” Serah spoke up, “she wanted to know if there was a dog friendly type of glitter that was sold around here, and I told her about it some time ago.”

“Why in the world would she want to know something like that?”

“Namine really likes glitter, and sometimes Namine and Luna apparently spend time making little glitter bombs, but it’s usually really easy to clean up.”

“Did she say anything about _pink_ glitter?” Riku asked.

“Um... she never said any sort of color, if I remember correctly.” Serah shook her head, “sorry.”

“No, that’s a big help already.” Noctis sighed, “I never knew Luna even made glitter bombs with Namine. She never told me anything about that.”

“Maybe she felt like you wouldn’t be interested in it?” Riku suggested.

“Maybe.” Noctis let out another sigh, “did she mention anything to you guys about... _ferrets_?”

“Oh, yeah.” Riku nodded, “she told us that she found some stray ferrets a few days ago, so, following Sora’s suggestion, she told us she was going to put them in a box and take them home? Did she do that, by the way? Are they okay?”

“So, the thing is, Zack doesn’t like ferrets, like... at _all_. And Xion apparently knew that but she still brought them to the house anyway.” Noctis explained, “a lot of bad things happened today with Xion.”

“Oh no... just... what happened?” Serah asked.

“Xion brought a few boxes in the house, one filled with paint, another filled with glitter, and the third with the ferrets. For some reason she decided to leave the paint in a _cardboard_ box, so it started leaking all over the living room. Zack saw it and practically lost his shit. I never saw him so upset.”

“Without real context for it, there’s a good chance that he’d be rationally angry.” Serah spoke, shaking her head. “There wasn’t any evil intent for anything that Xion did, she wanted to change something about herself, do something for Namine, _and_ try her best to save a few animals. She just... did it without really telling anyone the purpose.”

“Damn it.” Noctis let out a groan, “I gotta talk to Zack and clear this up.”

“Was Zack really mad?” Serah asked.

“Oh man, I can’t even explain it. Like, I felt like I needed to do something to get outta the house.” Noctis shook his head, “it wasn’t the best sight.”

“People say that sometimes the kindest people blow up the worst.” Riku stated, “maybe Zack was also a bit on edge.”

“Who knows.” Noctis shrugged, “still, I gotta got to Cloud’s house, because I’m _pretty_ sure Zack didn’t leave there yet. Gotta make sure to clear this up before he goes back home.”

“We’ll go too!” Serah smiled, “Kairi and Sora are over there with Roxas, so we wanted to spend some time with them.”

And so, with Serah, Riku, _and_ Umbra staying close by, Noctis made his way over to the Strife home, which was much closer than his own home. Upon reaching the front door, Umbra recognized the house and began to bark loudly, catching the attention of the teens lounging around in the living room. Prompto opened the door and gave Noctis a huge smile.

“Noct! I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages, buddy!” Prompto went to give Noctis a hug, which he returned quite awkwardly. “What brings you here?”

“Is Zack still here? We need to talk to him.”

“Oh, yeah- c’mon in guys!” Prompto moved out of the way as he waved to Serah and Riku, locking the door behind them. “Zacks’ right in here!”

“Umbra!” Noctis heard Zack yell immediately after Prompto pointed to the living room. Noctis hurried to take off his shoes and followed the sound, Serah and Riku close behind him. “Oh- hey Noct! Serah! Riku!”

“Zack, we have to talk.” Riku started, sounding far too serious. The joy in Zack’s face instantly went away as he looked at Riku, waiting for the the conversation to start.

“Well, hello to you too.” Cloud mumbled from beside Zack, petting Umbra as Umbra was trying his best to lick Chocobo, who was resting on Cloud’s lap. Roxas, Kairi, and Sora were sitting closer to the TV, and Serah had chosen to sit by them, waving and greeting them quietly.

“Zack,” Noctis started, “Xion didn’t do anything wrong.”

“What?” Zack raised an eyebrow, “what are you talking about?”

“Xion she- she wasn’t- she didn’t do any of it to be a piece of shit.” Noctis added, “the paint- she wanted to paint her room pink.”

“Oh my god.” Roxas spoke up, “did she put it in a cardboard box?”

“Yes.” Zack replied simply, “how’d you know that?”

Roxas covered his face with his hands, “I was messing around with her at school and told her the best way to carry paint was in a cardboard box... I didn’t think she’d actually listen to me, it was such a dumb suggestion.”

“Yeah, but it came from _you_.” Riku pointed out, “she’d believe you before she believes anyone else.”

“Oh my god.” Roxas groaned, “I’m so sorry.”

“And the glitter,” Serah spoke up next, “I think she wanted to make Namine feel more at home. Namine and Luna used to make glitter bombs all the time when they could. Namine loved to do it.”

“Oh yeah, Luna and Namine usually had like, super bright pink glitter or blue glitter depending on the season. This season would have been pink glitter.” Kairi added in. “I found that tradition super cute, apparently Namine knew how to clean it up immediately, but they had fun whenever they did it.”

“And the ferrets,” Riku spoke, “she really was trying to save them. She told us that she saw a guy throw them out in a plastic bag, but she found a small box to keep them in originally. Sora and I suggested that she get a bigger box and bring them home until she could take them to an animal shelter.”

“And the clothes?” Zack asked.

“I did give Xion a few bags of clothes that I got. But they weren’t really my style so I gave them to her instead. Could that be it?” Kairi asked.

Zack let out a sigh and glanced over to Cloud, who could only shrug in response. “Xion was just trying to make her friend feel at home, apparently. And she probably wanted to tap more into her feminine side.” Cloud spoke.

“She does spend a lot of time around guys.” Zack confirmed, “Gaia, now I really _do_ feel bad. Leaving her with Terra is just going to make him egg her on until she’s really upset.” Zack shook his head, “why didn’t she tell me then?”

“Well- you _were_ angry.” Noctis pointed out.

“When you’re at a certain point, it’s pretty hard to get to you, you know.” Cloud lightly punched Zack’s arm, “you’d ignore her explanation for sure. Xion probably knew that too.”

“Any idea on how we can make it up to her, Noct?” Zack looked over to the raven, “Her _and_ Namine. The guys in the house were super quick to point fingers at her and throw both of them under the bus. I don’t want Namine to think that we hate either of them.”

“That’s fair.” Noctis nodded, earning a chuckle from Sora and Prompto. “What- what did I say?”

“ _Fair_.” Sora repeated, “like Zack’s last name.” Sora began to laugh earning a curious look from some and a pat on the head from Riku.

“ _Okay._ ” Noctis shook his head, “by the way, Zack. You never told me when your birthday was.”

“Oh!” Zack let out a chuckle, “I guess I didn’t, huh? It’s-” just like before, Zack froze, this time hearing Cloud’s phone ring quite loudly. Cloud gave Noctis an apologetic look as he reached into his pocket. Looking at the number, Cloud handed off Chocobo to Zack and guided Umbra to move away from him so that he could walk away to talk elsewhere. Zack turned his attention fully to Chocobo, grinning and playing with the floppy ears. “Man, I love bunnies.”

“Bunnies are great.” Sora confirmed, “oh! Zack, hear this! I wanna get a pet dog and a duck!”

“Oh no, not this again.” Riku groaned.

“Why do you want a pet duck?” Zack raised an eyebrow.

“I wanna name the duck Donald, and I want to get a dog and name it Goofy! That way I can have the dynamic trio of Disney!”

“Oh right, you’re totally one step in aren’t you? How’s Mickey doing?”

“He’s great! I love him so much! But he definitely loves Riku more. Whenever Riku comes to visit, Mickey goes crazy so that he could spend time with him.” Zack watched as Sora began to pout, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked up to Riku who stood by him. Zack let out a small chuckle that caused Sora to protest. “I’m serious! Mickey loves Riku so much more than me!”

“Sometime animals just have their favorites.” Zack tried to reason.

“I think Mickey just likes the fact that Riku’s growing out his hair, so it’s like... past his shoulders or whatever and Mickey can hide in it.”

“My hair’s barely past my shoulders Sora.” Riku let out a chuckle of his own, “and my hair hasn’t grown much.”

“A total power move is just growing your hair out hella long, then cutting it when the time’s right.” Zack put up a finger to point at his own hair. “I’m gonna leave this bad boy long, and who knows, I may cut it in a few months or so.”

“Oh, that sounds cool, maybe I should grow it out a lot.” Riku reached for his own hair, “Kairi and I wanted to see how long our hair would grow naturally before it just stopped.” He pointed a thumb over to Kairi who nodded vigorously in agreement. “I’m probably gonna win.” He shrugged.

“What?! No way, I’m totally gonna win. My hair’s already longer than yours.”

“It’s gonna stop and you’re gonna complain that my hair’s gonna be longer than yours soon.” Riku pointed out, “ _and_ you started before me. I’m just playing the catch-up game right now.”

“Uh,” Noctis cleared his throat, changing the attention back to him, “my question was never answered.”

“Oh! Right!” Zack let out a laugh, “third time’s the charm, huh?”

“Zack please don’t distract yourself anymore.” Noctis could feel himself pleading.

“Yeah, of course! It’s the 23rd of June.”

“Oh, wow. That’s like, the middle of next year.”

“Yep!”

“So how come we’ve never celebrated it?”

“I’m usually either on a mission, or I go and visit my parents. I don’t even see Spike on my birthday.” Zack answered with a shrug, “I also really don’t celebrate it, but I’m perfectly fine with celebrating everyone else’s.”

“Speaking of which, someone else’s birthday is this month, right?” Serah asked, looking around, “I could have sworn there were a few September birthdays.”

“Axel’s birthday is on the 29th.” Kairi answered, “I don’t know if he planned on doing anything special for it though. He usually doesn’t.”

“What does he usually do then?” Roxas asked.

“Uh, he and Dem usually go out with some friends and go bar hopping.”

“Isn’t he underage?” Zack asked.

“That’s not what his fake ID says.” Kairi shrugged, “besides, he’s turning 21 this year so he’ll be fine.”

“Well, since he’s turning 21, _shouldn’t_ we do something special for him?” Riku suggested, “it’d be nice. Ax works pretty hard all the time, and I’m pretty sure he’d appreciate a little something extra from what he usually does.”

“His birthday is actually... really soon you know? In a little less than a week.” Serah pointed out, “if you want to plan something, you should probably start planning that soon.”

“Leave it to Serah to calculate dates for us.” Riku teased.

“Just like a real teacher.” Sora grinned as he waved to Serah happily. Serah let out a small chuckle and shook her head at the boys.

“Well, Kairi, what types of things does Axel like?” Serah turned to look at Kairi, asking her the question.

“Uh,” Kairi looked up to the ceiling, “he likes ice cream?” She practically asked herself, “Axel’s kind of hard to figure out sometimes, y’know? You’ll think he likes one thing, but he’ll throw it away right in your face.”

“Really?” Roxas watched as Kairi nodded.

“I’ve seen it a few times,” Riku spoke, “where people would try and give him letters and such, and he’d stare them straight in the face and set it on fire.” Riku sighed, “I felt bad for the girls who tried to give him love letters in college, he made a bonfire outside the building once.”

“That sounds... terrible.” Roxas mumbled.

“Yeah, well, Ax really only cared about one person at the time, so, his priorities weren’t to entertain anyone else.”

“A good thing about Axel is that he’s at least loyal.” Kairi shrugged. “He’s hard to figure out, but when he’s your friend, he’s your _friend_. Like, he’ll do so much for you.”

“Yeah, he’s good at hiding his feelings for people too though. Like with Saix, if I hadn’t seen the whole thing straight up, I would have never known that Axel and Saix had a bad friendship.” Riku added.

“Wow...”

“Why don’t you set up something for Axel, Roxas?” Noctis suggested, earning a shocked look from the blonde, “I’m pretty sure Axel would love it if you gave him something for his birthday. Or even acknowledged the fact that he _has_ a birthday. This would be the first year that you could.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Zack and Prompto chimed in.

“That’s true! Axel does like you a lot.” Serah smiled to the blonde who looked like he was slowly turning into a tomato.

“I m-mean I-” Roxas cleared his throat, “I _could_ but- I-I... I still don’t really know what Axel likes either, we just talk about random things, like cars and towns and-”

“I can help you out a bit, if you want.” Riku offered, “I’ve learned a bit about him that might help you.”

“Yeah but- learning from an _ex_?” Roxas mumbled, “what if he doesn’t like that?”

“I’m an ex that turned into a friend, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“I guess so.” Roxas let out a sigh, “I’ll message you if I can’t figure out anything.” Riku nodded in response.

“Well then, I’m gonna go check on Spike real quick, then we can go home Noct.” Zack spoke as he stood from his spot, handing Chocobo off to Prompto who was more than happy to hold his bunny. Noctis nodded and turned to look at Chocobo, petting the bunny softly.

“Bunnies really are tranquil, huh.” Noctis mumbled.

“Yeah, until he makes those honking sounds,” Prompto groaned, “I know he’s happy and all but _jeez_. I’d rather him stay silent.”

“Wait- rabbits make noises?” Noctis turned to Roxas who nodded at the answer.

“Yep, they have a few different tells for you to know if they’re happy or angry. Clucking, purring, or what Prompto calls honking are usually the good signs. Hissing, growling, or screaming are some bad signs.”

“Woah- bunnies scream?!” Sora yelled, “I never knew that!”

“Because _we_ ,” Roxas pointed to himself and Prompto, “take care of Chocobo so you’d never have to hear something like that. They usually only scream if they’re dying anyways.”

“That’s... morbid,” Riku mumbled.

“You learn something new everyday,” Serah whispered.

“But, yeah, uh... anyways,” Roxas looked over to Riku again, “are you really okay with helping me romance your ex?”

“He’s an ex for a reason, and-” Riku cleared his throat, “did you just say  _‘help you romance my ex’_ in a serious voice?”

“Who in the world uses ‘romance’ in that context?” Prompto teased.

“I’m being serious here guys. I really want to know.”

“Yeah, I’ll help you with your romance life. Since this means so much to you, clearly. I’ll actually be serious about this too.”

“Thank you Riku.”

“Wait, so you actually _like_ Axel?” Sora asked, leaning towards Roxas, “you never told me that you _really_ like him!”

“Don’t look too into it, jeez.” Roxas looked off to the side, “it’s not that important.”

“Oh man, Roxy got it _bad_.” Prompto teased with a grin. “He’s like a tsundere that you’d hear saying ‘it’s not like I like you or anything, dummy’ and Axel would literally just laugh in his face and say some real sexual shit.”

“That sounds about right.” Riku agreed with a grin pulling at his lips.

“Oh that reminds me-” Kairi went to grab Roxas’ hand, “are you ready to have a super sexual relationship with a sexually frustrated guy?”

“ _What?_ ” Roxas shook his head, pulling his hand away, “I thought they were just kidding just then-”

“You don’t know the half of it, Rox.” Riku began to laugh, “I didn’t want to tell you about it _yet_ but, y’know.”

“Woah- wait, does that mean you and Axel-”

“A few times, yeah.” Riku nodded, avoiding the look that Sora gave him. Sora began to pout in response to the conversation.

“W-was...” Roxas stuttered as he tried to clear his voice, “was he... good at least?”

“He’s had a lot of experience Rox, you’ll be fine.”

“Roxy has a crush on a sexually active dude~.” Prompto began to tease again. He rubbed Chocobo’s ears as he whispered the same sentence over and over again.

“ _Shit._ ”

“It’s okay, it’ll be okay, I promise Roxas.” Kairi grabbed Roxas’ hand again, “I _promise_ you that I won’t let Axel touch you until _you_ know you’re ready, okay?”

“What?” Roxas glanced back to Kairi, “no that’s not what I’m stuck on.” He pulled his hand back once again, “if Axel screwed a lot of people already, then that means when he and I fuck it’s not gonna be that special to him.”

“Oh, Roxas is ready to do the thing.” Noctis mumbled.

“Yeah I don’t care about that, but if it’s not gonna be special, then that’s gonna suck.”

“Remember when I told you that he only really cared about one person?” Riku asked. He watched Roxas nod, “that person wasn’t me. I actually _don’t_ know who that one person is or was. Just keep that in mind, okay?”

“Are you saying it _could_ be me?”

“It could be.” Riku shrugged, “he’s liked you for a while.”

“Okay, I won’t get hyped up over it, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

“I didn’t want to be the one to say it, but Zack is taking quite some time to come back, right?” Serah spoke up, looking to Noctis for confirmation.

“Uh, yeah. I was thinking that not too long ago but I’m afraid to really go up there and see what’s going on.”

“That’s pretty valid.” Roxas chuckled, "since it’s Zack...”

“Yeah, I don’t even want to think about it.” Noctis could feel his spine shiver at the thought.

“I say we go up there and check on them, there’s no way he should be taking so long. And besides- you guys gotta make it up to Xion and Namine!” Prompto grabbed Noctis’ arm, pulling him up from his spot. “I’ll check with you to make sure you’re not scarred for life.”

“Wait!” Roxas jumped up, “don’t take Chocobo with you! Chocobo doesn’t deserve the pain of what he may see!”

“Oh shit, you’re so right.” Prompto quickly handed the bunny off to Roxas, who then passed him off to Serah who was quite happy to now have a bunny on her lap. “Okay, c’mon Noct.” Prompto once again grabbed Noctis’ arm, dragging him up the stairs to where Cloud’s room was. The door was slightly ajar, and the two could hear the pair on the inside talking about something quietly.

 _“-but he barely talked to them before, right?”_ Noctis could hear Zack ask.

_“Yeah. Suddenly it’s real important for him to see her.”_

_“You’re not gonna let him though, right?”_

_“Not willingly anyways. I don’t care what he did for me, he also almost got me killed.”_

_“So much for being subtle.”_

_“He’s the one that’s been causing me trouble. At this point, I don’t know what else to do.”_

_“You’re not always gonna have an answer.”_

_“Yeah but you got upset at me for never having an answer. The one time that I want to have one, and I’m stuck like this.”_

_“I know you don’t like me stepping in on your boundaries but-”_

_“No Zack, you’re not going to do anything about this.”_ Noctis and Prompto could hear shuffling on the other side, _“Once I take care of this and Denzel, it’ll be fine. Since I’m 21 now I have all that I need for Rox and Ven. He doesn’t have control over Prompto or Dem, so it’ll be fine.”_

_“Well, yeah but... Denzel isn’t your child or anything like that. If he finds out that you’re holding onto this kid...”_

_“He won’t find out.”_ Cloud let out some sort of cough, _“I’ll find someone to take care of him if things get hairy.”_

_“I’m always here for you.”_

_“He’ll check you first Zack, c’mon.”_

_“I know!”_

_“Don’t you have to go take care of Xion?”_

_“OH SHIT.”_

Prompto and Noctis looked at one another and quickly ran to the kitchen across the way, pretending they were putting some type of meal together the moment Zack burst from out of Cloud’s room. He stopped and stared at the two of them questionably for a moment, while Prompto and Noctis turned in unison to stare back at the confused man.

“Hey Zack.” Noctis spoke clearly.

“Hey.” Zack nodded, “you ready to go?”

“Yeah just give me a sec here.”

“Alrighty.”


End file.
